Some 463 pedigree herds have signed up to the new pedigree herd performance recording scheme so far, with 250 of these herds already visited.

The new programme involves taking weights of all animals on participating farms, and collecting extra data on items such as locomotion, C-section history and preferential treatment. An extra 6,347 cows have been weight-recorded so far. These weights will be critical data in the new evaluations.

Limousin herds lead the sign-ups with 244 herds, followed by Charolais (92), Simmental (33), Angus (30) and Aubrac (16).

The Irish Limousin Cattle Society has made participation in the scheme compulsory for those who wish to exhibit animals at premier sales.

The ICBF has introduced a cap of €800 on the cost of annual visits to breeders, regardless of herd size, and is paying for half of the cost of weighing cows.

A number of spot-check visits have also been completed, with no evidence of any false data recording found. In a survey carried out last week, 70% of visits took less than three hours and 90% of those visited intend to continue in the programme.

The bull finder tool is expected to be rolled out in early September.

Pat Donnellan of ICBF said that the more data can be recorded for an evaluation run, the more accurate the indices will be.