Some 1,200 farmers could face a 140% penalty in their Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) payment for not having the required amount of four- and five-star animals in their herds by the end of October.

Over 1,200 suckler herds participating in the BDGP currently don’t have enough genotyped four- or five-star animals in their herd to meet the 31 October deadline.

Eight thousand heifers or cows need to change hands between now and 31 October in order to meet the deadline.

Under the scheme, 50% of the reference number of cows or heifers in a participating herd must be genotyped four- or five-star by 31 October.

To be eligible for the scheme, these animals must have been born before 30 June 2019.

Penalty

Farmers could face a 140% penalty for not meeting this target. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Chris Daly of ICBF said: “There are more than enough animals out there to meet the requirements. They’re just not in the right herd at the moment.”

In recent weeks, the ICBF has been contacting these farmers to make sure they are aware of the requirements of the scheme and most have a plan on how they will meet the target.

The ICBF has also issued reports in recent weeks informing participants where they are in terms of scheme targets and what they need to do to meet them.

“We launched the mart tracker tool in the last two weeks and this is where farmers can login to the ICBF website and see what BDGP eligible heifers are entered for marts on the morning of the sale.

“We are doing everything in our power to get these farmers across the line and avoid hefty penalties.

“If farmers have heifers not genotyped, they need to send the samples back before 9 September to be included in the next evaluation run,” Daly said.