The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation has came in for a lot of criticism in recent weeks over The Beef Data and Genomics Programme, the Whole Herd Performance Recording programme, genetic indices and pedigree breeder communications. This week beef editor Adam Woods sat down with its chief executive Sean Coughlan and asked him 10 questions around recent events and the direction of cattle breeding in Ireland.

1 There have been a lot of questions in recent weeks around the board structure of ICBF and whether beef breed societies have enough representation on the board. Is this a reasonable argument to make?

The board structure was agreed back 20 years ago as part of the setup of ICBF. At that time, over €2m of share capital (cash) was put up by the industry shareholders to help establish the ICBF infrastructure. There are four groupings of shareholders – 18% is owned by the Herdbooks (three board seats), 18% by the AI companies (three board seats), 18% by the milk recording organisations (three board seats), and 46% held in trust for farmers by ICMSA/IFA (six board seats). The Department of Agriculture which, doesn’t hold any shares but does provide significant funding to the ICBF, also has a seat on the board. Currently, there are 11 farmers sitting on the board of 16. The board is a representative board, with each grouping of shareholders having nominating rights as to who should represent them on the board. Thus, ICBF does not control who sits on the board. That is a matter for the shareholders. The Herdbooks decide who their representatives are, and likewise for the other groupings. It allows each group to take responsibility for their representation.

2 Some people, including pedigree breed societies and some mart managers, have said in recent weeks the quality of cattle is going down in this country because of the direction in which the ICBF is bringing the Irish cattle industry. Is this fair?

The data provided by the marts to the ICBF indicates that the quality of weanlings from the suckler herd is not reducing. Three times as many €1,000+ weanlings in 2017 came from five-star cows as came from one-star cows. The number of calves being produced from the suckler herd has also increased. In BDGP herds in 2014, there were 0.80 calves per cow per year produced by the suckler herd (80 calves for every 100 cows.). In 2017, that figure was 0.87. That is a very significant improvement, and further improvement is possible. This is very positive from both a profitability and a climate change perspective.

3 Similarly, there are questions being asked about the quality of cattle being slaughtered also reducing because of the direction of breeding in the country. Is this the case?

If we talk about suckler-bred animals, the factory data indicates that from 2013 to 2017, there has been no decrease on carcase conformation grades for steers, and the average weights have increased. This is across over 250,000 animals in each of the years. The average carcase weight for suckler steers was 386kg (at R=) in 2017 compared with 380kg at (R=) in 2014. An additional key point to note is that the average age at slaughter continues to decrease – from 874 days (29.1 months) to 852 days (28.4 months) – which is good news from both a profitability and a climate/carbon efficiency point of view. Of course, with additional numbers of steers coming from the dairy herd, the overall average weights/conformation are decreasing, but not as a result of reduced suckler progeny quality.

4 Breed societies have said that the level of communication between ICBF and pedigree breeders has been poor. Do you accept this?

There has been criticism by the breed societies around the level of engagement we have had with them. We have taken that criticism on board and responded positively on a number of fronts. Firstly, we have agreed that there will be a formal herdbook technical meeting once per quarter. This has been in place since the start of the year, with meetings in February and May, and another due to take place in September. Secondly, one of the suggestions coming from the breed societies is that ICBF would engage with a technical sub-group of representatives. We have agreed to do this. Thirdly, we have been engaging with different breed societies on different initiatives on a bilateral basis and there are a number of very positive projects in process. We don’t get everything right all the time, but we are more than willing to engage with those who want to engage on a constructive basis. It’s by talking and working together things will get resolved for the betterment of the entire livestock industry.

5 Questions have been asked about the Gene Ireland progeny testing programme and whether it is working for breeders or not. Is it really working?

The ongoing investment in Gene Ireland is critical. We have to have new bulls available to pedigree breeders and commercial farmers each year that are better than the previous year. The idea of having 10- or 15-year-old bulls at the top of active bull lists will not serve the long-term progress needs of Irish beef farmers. The only reliable way to ensure this happens is to have a structured Gene Ireland bull testing programme which brings new bulls to the fore in a similar way to what happens in dairy.

6 The ICBF has been criticised in the past for not taking on board data from other countries in relation to foreign bloodlines being used in Ireland. Have you access to all of this data now?

We are very fortunate in this country with regard to the volume of data that we have available for genetic evaluations. This is only possible because of the good working relationships that exist with the Department, farmers, marts and meat processors. Where ever we can get access to foreign data, we have been incorporating it. We are also leading work internationally through Interbeef in developing international evaluations.

7 With relation to data collection in pedigree herds, is it good enough to drive confidence in figures?

We have made progress in data collection on pedigree farms, but there is a long way to go to get to an optimal level. We are working with pedigree breeders in an attempt to get them to completely buy in to the need to record maximum data to ensure the most accurate genetic evaluations possible. Based on pedigree males born in 2016, there are three to four times more recording of weights happening in Whole Herd Performance Recording (WHPR) herds than in herds not engaged in WHPR. More data will lead to more accurate evaluations.

8 What are the next steps for the ICBF to resolve issues with pedigree breeders and bring the industry together for the common good of the commercial farmer?

There are massive challenges facing agriculture at the moment, and especially for suckler breeders. We seem to be caught up with in-fighting within the suckler/livestock breeding community. The reality is that we can ill afford this. Collaboration is hard work, but it is the only way forward if we are to continue to build on the opportunities that science and technology offer us to sustain our rural communities through agriculture. The challenges coming forward in terms of climate and an anti-livestock agenda mean that we can ill afford to be expending energy arguing among ourselves. The real challenges for the livestock breeding sector are outside, not inside. Let’s focus our energy and attention there.

9 Some people would say that it seems like almost all first cross animals from the dairy herd are four and five stars on the replacement index. Can you confirm the numbers?

Of the 550,310 cows that are alive and on farms in BDGP herds, 448,521 are genotyped at this stage (81% of the total). Looking specifically at these animals (as these have the most accurate genomic evaluations), a total of 357,321 are suckler-bred beef animals and 91,035 are first-cross animals from the dairy herd. Of these animals, some 48.7% of suckler-bred animals are four and five stars and 65.8% of animals are first-cross animals from the dairy herd. So while the figures are somewhat higher (in line with the €23 difference in question 2), it is certainly not correct to say that all first-cross animals from the dairy herd are four and five stars for replacement index.

10 Some breeders say that the BDGP is promoting increased use of first-cross animals from the dairy herd as potential suckler female replacements. Is this the case?

Looking again at cows currently in the BDGP (some 550,310 in total), 20.9% of these are first-cross animals from the dairy herd (see below). Restricting this to just heifers calved in during 2018 (up to 15 May calving), indicates that 19.2% of these were first-cross animals from the dairy herd, indicating a decline in the percentage dairy influence in the suckler herd as a result of BDGP.