The fallout continues from the proposed changes being implemented to the beef breeding indices on 21 November.
Continental pedigree breed societies have been especially vocal on the changes.
It’s a difficult position for breed societies, which have a duty to represent their breeders as best they can.
Standing up at a society AGM to tell breeders that the ICBF has downgraded their breed by reducing the number of bulls that sit in the top 100 would be a daunting prospect for anyone.
Implementation
The Teagasc and ICBF modelling and implementation plan is based around changing environmental science and applying the changes to deal with the challenges that all farmers will meet in relation to climate change in the next five to 10 years. The big driver is lower age of slaughter.
The changes will undoubtedly change suckler breed makeup in the years ahead.
Farmers feel the communication on the roll-out from both Teagasc and the ICBF on the proposed changes could have been better. They feel that their voices haven’t been heard during the implementation of the proposed changes.
I’d like to gauge farmers views on what they think of the proposed changes and the communication around the changes and I’d appreciate if you could answer the questions in the survey link below. The results will be published in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal.
SHARING OPTIONS