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The two candidates in the running to be the next IFA president hold differing views of recent changes to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) beef indexes.
These changes will favour lighter, easier-calving suckler cows whose progeny reach slaughter quicker over traits associated with continental breeds.
Dairy farmer Martin Stapleton is open to the index changes as being a route to improving the efficiency of sucklers.
He said he is willing to “follow the science” on the index changes but any support will depend on there being no adverse economic impacts on farmers.
“I am always slow to go against the science. I am looking forward to seeing how it develops. I think across a whole range of issues, the best defence we have in farming is science and I think we need to be very, very careful of dismissing science.”
Beef and tillage farmer Francie Gorman opposes the changes, saying they do not reflect the commercial reality of suckler farming and producing high-quality continental-type weanlings.
He questioned the level of on-farm trials that informed the changes, labelling them the “culmination of a desktop analysis”.
“I think we should have given the commercial beef value a chance to work itself through the system before they changed the maternal indexes,” Gorman said.
“It’s certainly going to disadvantage the traditional suckler cow that we associated with, particularly with the rest of Ireland, but if you are suckler farming in Co Laois, you are going to have similar cows as well.
“If you go to any sale around the country, it is those continental weanlings that are continually making top dollar.”
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