The Irish Farmers Journal has learned of the death of former chief executive of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation Brian Wickham.

His death was announced after he battled a serious illness for the last number of years.

Originally from New Zealand but for a long time living in Clonakilty, Co Cork, Brian was central to the establishment of the integrated shared database for Irish cattle breeding.

Ireland remains one of the only countries in the world where the breeding database belongs to the farmers, rather than a commercial company.

Database

Apart from the technical issues associated with this database development it required major development in the way cattle-breeding organisation operated in Ireland.

The new organisation, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation Society Limited (ICBF) was formed in 2000 to establish and operate the database as well as to provide genetic evaluations.

Brian officially took up his role at ICBF in 1998 and retired as CEO in 2012.

In 2019 Brian took up a role leading the New Zealand animal evaluation organisation, which is the breeding arm of Dairy NZ in New Zealand.

In 2021 an Irish conference was held to discuss - “How did Brian Wickham change the world of Irish cattle breeding?”

The Irish livestock industry owes so much to Brian, in terms of his vision for how breeding could contribute to the economic well-being of farmers. Brian always acted with the utmost of integrity and was forever positive.

ICBF pays tribute

The ICBF said it was deeply saddened by the passing of its former chief executive, colleague and friend, Brian Wickham after a long battle with cancer.

"From 1998 to 2012 Brian was the driving force in establishing our national, integrated database for cattle breeding in Ireland. ICBF was formed in 2000 to establish and operate the database as well as to provide genetic evaluations for Irish farmers. The EBI and €uro-star indexes came as a direct result of Brian’s determination and ability to take a long-term view of the industry and what it needed," it said.

It quoted Brian as saying: "One version of the truth…be bold and take a long term view.”

"Brian was always so passionate about the role that cattle breeding could play in improving the profitability of farmers. His principled view of ensuring that the ICBF database was farmer owned and controlled, set Ireland in a unique position in terms of cattle breeding. He always found the positives, even in the most challenging of negotiations and his integrity was always beyond reproach,the organisation said.

"We extend our condolences to Brian’s family and friends during this difficult time. May he rest in peace."