The Department of Agriculture has agreed to allow the November 2020 genetic evaluation to be included for the purposes of Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) eligibility.

Originally, the September evaluation was to be the final one before the 31 October BDGP deadline. Under the scheme, farmers must have 50% of their herd genotyped as 4- or 5-star by 31 October 2020. Including the November evaluation (published on 24 November) means that tag/hair samples can now be returned up until the 9 September.

Concern

There was some concern that herds might not be able to meet the deadline and this move should help herds meet the 31 October target by allowing them more time to get samples returned to the lab. There are currently over 24,000 active participants in the BDGP scheme.

Animals will still have to be in a herd on 31 October 2020, this change means that an animal can be deemed eligible where it receives its first genomic evaluation on 24 November. While the final date to have samples returned is now 9 September, ICBF still encourages farmers to return outstanding samples and/or order sampling kits where required as soon as possible.

Hardware upgrade

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal Chris Daly ICBF said: "For the next couple of genetic evaluations runs, ICBF is going through an extensive hardware upgrade process to ensure that we have the capacity to service the industry’s future genomic evaluation requirements (BDGP, dairy Genomics, DNA calf registration projects etc).

"In that context, we are revising the upcoming dates for genetic evaluations. The genetic evaluation publication dates for the remainder of the year are now as follows: 4 August, 6 October and 24 November.”

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