DEAR EDITOR: Firstly, may I say that I have a healthy respect for the genomic information that is available through the ICBF. However, unfortunately, this respect took a major hit upon the recent announcement of the re-organisation of the genomic indices.

The communication and timing of the changes leave farmers, such as myself, in a very uncertain environment.

I can no longer plan matings for cows, to meet the herd’s objectives with any degree of confidence, and how can I know when the goalpost is going to change again?

SCEP

I have been trying to future-proof the herd to have the best performing cows possible for the future. I have made a massive investment in genetics to achieve the goals that I have personally set for the herd, and like many farmers, I have joined SCEP.

Not by choice, but more out of necessity – it comes down to us needing every available financial assistance to run a suckler herd.

I think the information provided by the ICBF through genomics provides farmers with some valuable information, and I use this information regularly for decision making within the herd; but I am of the opinion that the journey that leads to a cow being allocated “stars” on the replacement index is far from perfect in a number of areas.

Stars rating system

I can understand that the easiest way of identifying the higher merit cows on a broad national scale is to use a basic rating mechanism, so we have stars – and the more stars the better.

My issue with this is that there are many cows in the national herd that score very heavily for the essential traits that are necessary for them to be top-class cows (milk, docility, daughter calving interval, daughter calving difficulty), but because a parentage might not be recorded, they ultimately end up with a very low rating.

In addition to the above point, the stars are allocated on a percentile basis, which means that a large percentage of beef-bred suckler cows will never be able to pass the norm for their type, which disadvantages their ability to compete on an index level with small dairy-beef bred females.

I have signed up for SCEP, I pay for and use the breeding information services provided by the ICBF to achieve the targets set out in SCEP and, like many farmers, after a significant journey to become eligible for the first payment for SCEP, I am told that the information provided by the ICBF is obsolete, and that new indices will be rolled out long after the scheme has closed.

Farmers are within touching distance of much needed financial help, only to be told that the goalposts have moved.

It is little consolation to us that we are told that females that were eligible at the end of October will remain eligible for the duration of the scheme, even if they have dropped below the 4/5 star threshold in the November evaluation run.

My replacement pregnancies due in the spring and next autumn are already in utero based on the old indices, and with a significant percentage conceived using sexed semen.

Some of these planned replacements may not be eligible and either way, post-SCEP will have a lower value if stars are significantly lowered.

Lost confidence

I have lost confidence in what the ICBF has set out to achieve within SCEP.

We are hostage to their tinkering with indices – this is not a sound basis for a relationship between farmers and the ICBF.

Confidence in the Eurostar indices has been completely wiped out, there are too many examples of cows and bulls who are proven top-class producers who have been hammered in this process.

We have a right to know exactly what lies down the road in terms of any alterations to the indices if the ICBF wants us to partner with them in the future. These are our animals and they are the means by which we make a living.

We have to be an integral part of the process which has a responsibility to future-proof our national herd, but unfortunately, we have been bypassed and treated with complete disregard.