The Eurostar indexes are powerful tools that can steer suckler farmers in a more desirable, productive direction.

Many have voiced their anger and concerns at some of the BDGP conditions. My sole concern does not involve potential claw backs, six-year timescales or lofty targets.

Recently, I discovered that the sire of 20 calves here this year had been re-ranked on the maternal index. The once 4.5 star replacement bull now had just 2.5 stars. His reliability at 4.5 stars was 67%, moving to 78% at 2.5 stars. Now, the indexes of replacements sired by this bull may suffer.

Not for a second am I questioning the maternal index; there are people far more-qualified than myself to do that if necessary. Throughout the next six years and beyond, the ICBF will continue to re-rank bulls; and rightly so. Freezing the indexes to suit the BDGP would be counterproductive.

The dynamic nature of the index is what makes it work. The index value on day of insemination is what will ultimately count towards the BDGP condition for sire usage. If we use a straw from a 5 star sire that is re-ranked to 3 stars the following day, we will have ticked one box; but our potential calf’s index will now be subject to the 3 star sire. Depending now on the cow, this figure could go either way when genotyped.

The top three replacement bulls for beef have reliability figures of 59%, 57% and 29%; all lower than that of our re-ranked bull. In the near future, reliability figures will be just as crucial as the stars alongside them. Moving forward, the use of genomic testing should deliver high reliability figures, sooner. For us, it’s a lesson that we must spread the risk from here on in; using bigger teams of bulls.

This morning, a roll of wire I was using to back-fence some heifers knotted-up. The more I pulled, the more tangled it became. Time will tell whether the scheme comes to resemble something similar. There will no doubt be some confusion. One thing’s for certain; though the fine-print seems complicated, it’s a huge step in the right direction.