It's been a difficult few weeks for the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) as five cattle breed societies decided to withdraw the Euro-star indices from their sale catalogues.

Today, the Irish Dexter Cattle Society has also spoken out against the current Euro-star evaluation system. In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, the society stated: "Never in the history of a domesticated species has a more effective inbreeding programme been implemented. Connecting farmers incomes to the

output from this programme, via the SCEP scheme, has obliged farmers to make breeding decisions based on this inbreeding programme.

"Farmers are expected to make these decisions despite the fact that the rules implemented by the algorithm are continuously changing and that farmers are not allowed to see this set of rules.

"A recent 'small change' to the ICBF algorithm changed the average Dexter herd from a euro value of above €100 to a value of below - €20. At a stakeholders meeting ICBF stated that a dry run of this change was not done and that it was not peer reviewed.

"This one size fits all 'yoyo' algorithm is nowhere near ready for prime

time even to achieve it's aim of improving commercial beef production

and the notion that a set of rules applied to both Dexters and Charolais can improve both breeds is just silly. This programme replaces generations of accumulated knowledge within pedigree breeds on how to preserve breeds while competing to meet market demands."

National herd

"From the point of view of the national herd the Dexter breed and other pedigree breeds are a reservoir of genetics which can be fallen back on when severely flawed inbreeding programmes like this one inevitably go wrong. Leaving breeders with no choice other than to make decisions based on star ratings means this reservoir of genetics will be rapidly depleted".

The statement concluded: "Irish Dexter Cattle society is in the business of preserving a native Irish rare breed. This scheme can undo over 100 years of preservation work in a few short years and do irreparable damage to native Irish rare breeds".