From January 2020, the Irish Charolais Cattle Society is set to make genomic sampling compulsory for all sales bulls .

Using this sample, a further myostatin test will also be completed to tell customers what muscling genes each bull in the sale carries. While the Angus society brought this measure into play for this weekend’s Elite sale in Carrick, it has done so to exclude double carriers of the NT821 strain, to avoid potential calving issues. Nevin McKiernan, Charolais society secretary, said: “We are not trying to eliminate any strains from the breed but it’s more to inform customers who are actively looking for some myostatin strains over others. This is about making use of new technologies.”