The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has called for the reform of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) star rating system.

The ICSA voiced its concerns regarding the credibility of the star ratings and valuations system, saying that it is “undermining suckler farmers”.

Association suckler chair Jimmy Cosgrave said the ICBF’s refusal to accept weights submitted by farmers is a major issue.

“Farmers have invested heavily in purchasing or renting weighing scales and they are undertaking the considerable risk of handling livestock for weighing, only for their data to be ignored in the calculation of overall ratings,” he said.

“The same issue arises with survey sheets - both of these factors contribute 20% of the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) scheme, yet this data is effectively disregarded. If 20% of the scheme is not being utilised, then why are farmers going to the effort?”

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The ICBF only accepts weights from individually weighed animals and does not accept group weights.

Cosgrove said that this often excludes animals going for export and can skew the ICBF statistics and eligibility criteria.

“These exported animals are often top-tier calves and their exclusion is creating an artificial shortfall of qualifying animals, which is unacceptable,” added Cosgrove.

Cosgrove also criticised the transparency of the system, questioning why access to certain information is denied unless the farmer pays for a HerdPlus subscription.

The ICSA has called on the ICBF to take immediate action by uploading all available data and making it accessible to all farmers.

“If [the] ICBF refuses to do so, then all star ratings for beef animals - particularly breeding animals - must be removed.

“The current system lacks credibility and the future of the industry cannot be dictated by unreliable and selectively applied statistics.”