DEAR SIR: I’m writing in response to the comments made by Walter Power in last week’s publication.

I think it’s unfair to say farmers were “lost in the dark before ICBF”.

Yes, ICBF has done a lot of good for farmers with the use of their database but we must not forget how ICBF was created.

A thanks must be paid to the forward-thinking farmers from generations before us

Without the information that breed societies had been recording long before ICBF, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

A thanks must be paid to the forward-thinking farmers from generations before us who went out of their way to milk-record their herds for the benefit of the national herd. Pedigree records and milk records allowed farmers before us to make informed decisions about their breeding policies to pave the way for today’s herd.

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Letter re ICBF breeding stock

Beef management: housing advice, BDGP deadlines and winter feed