According to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), further work is taking place to have all marts fitted with at least one new board.

“There are currently 51 marts displaying Euro Star / EBI figures on animals. The installation of these mart boards is still an ongoing process, so there will be more and more marts displaying figures in the future,” the ICBF said.

The Euro Star rating system and the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) are inextricably linked. If a farmer, who is participating in the BDGP, wants to buy a replacement female for his or her herd that is either four or five star, the new mart boards will show the Euro Star value of that animal.

If the animal has a Euro Star rating of €69 or above, then she is classed as four or five star.

In May, the Department of Agriculture announced it was rolling out a grant system for marts to buy the new boards.

The Department set aside €300,000 under state aid for funding up to 40% of the purchase cost of new electronic data display screens. There are almost 90 marts around Ireland.

Most marts have more than one selling ring and one individual board could cost a mart €10,000.

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