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The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has announced that it will be introducing a €0.50/cow additional charge from 7 February 2018 and an annual herd fee increase from €60 to €100 in 2019, for it's dairy HerdPlus service.
The ICBF says that the charge will help to achieve fairness in the context of herd size and says that: “The HerdPlus fee increase is specifically to fund printing, packing, software development and customer support for all our dairy HerdPlus members.”
This is the first fee increase since the introduction of the service in 2006 and the annual subscription fee is separate from the 38c compulsory cattle tag levy which generates roughly €780,000 a year.
The service provided by the federation has become an important tool for many dairy farmers. However, earlier this year, the ICBF came under fire after it emerged that its spring EBI results would not be available until the end of April.
By that stage, over 90% of spring-calving herds will have made their breeding decisions based on 2016 information, meaning they could potentially lose out on a full year's worth of genetic gain.
Farmers to lose out as ICBF pushes EBI results out
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