A review of the board of the ICBF and the abolition of the link between €uro-stars and Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) payments was called for by the Irish Charolais Cattle Society at an Oireachtas Committee hearing on Tuesday.

“Genomics have a vital role to play, but we must first understand them,” the secretary of the Charolais Society Nevan McKiernan told the committee.

“We have seen many reliable, well-bred AI bulls genotyped that were reduced from five stars to one star.”

The society also stated it felt that there had been a lack of consultation between breed societies and ICBF, with the quality of the suckler herd slipping.

The current make-up of the ICBF board structure was also questioned, with just one representative from a pedigree society granted a seat on the board.

“Under corporate [governance] should we have six members [on the board] from AI stations?” Willie Penrose from the Labour Party asked.

Cattle quality was raised as an issue by Cashel Mart manager Alison de Vere Hunt.

“In relation to the mart we’ve seen a huge decline in the quality of stock over the last number of years,” Hunt told the committee.

“It’s really having an effect on the farmers’ pocket and they’re disillusioned.”

Hunt called for the re-introduction of the old suckler welfare scheme that paid farmers to wean calves before sale.

ICBF

In response, ICBF stated that board members were put forward by the individual organisations they represented, not ICBF, and that they had completed a full independent board review last year.

The ICBF representatives acknowledged that overall declining carcase weight was a factor, but that this was due to the expanding dairy herd.

They also stated that they were committed to improving the genetic performance of the suckler herd.

On the issue of fluctuations on star evaluations, Dr Andrew Cromie of ICBF said: “Less than 1% (of animals) have moved from this magical five to one star.”

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