Irish Simmental society to pull ICBF evaluations from sale catalogues

In an unprecedented move, members of the Irish Simmental Cattle Society have voted no confidence in the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).

As well as this, they also voted to cease publishing ICBF genetic evaluations in all sale catalogues with immediate effect.

Both motions were put in front of members at the society’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Saturday, having been proposed by the Western Simmental Club.

In what has been described as a very engaging meeting, the ICBF genetic evaluations were discussed in detail before the motions were put to the meeting.

Society president Willie O'Halloran was very clear in his direction: “The changes to the ICBF evaluations in November 2023 have been so drastic that they are putting breeders out of business - a lot of our best cows are being culled based on these evaluations.

"We now learn that Teagasc recommend[s] updating the economic costings, which [the] ICBF resist[s]. This, added to the confusion regarding the calving evaluations, is alarming.”

Increased costs

In a statement from the society, breed secretary Peadar Glennon said: “The cost of keeping a cow was increased by 30%, while the value of weaning liveweight was only increased by 3%.

"It recently transpired that the cow cost is based on estimates, as [the] ICBF [does] not use the on-farm data supplied by farmers as part of the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).

"The current evaluations have no alignment with reality in our opinion, when the model has a value of €3.95/kg cow carcase weight and only €4.68/kg for prime beef base price.

"Last week, farmers were getting paid €5.30/kg for cows and the average steer base price was €5.74. When you devalue production while increasing costs in a model, less-productive animals rise to the top.

"If you have no confidence in the validity of figures, why would you give them relevance by publishing them. The only fact we can establish is if the animal qualifies for the SCEP scheme, and that will be presented in our catalogues.

"It is unfortunate that after years of engagement with [the] ICBF and Teagasc, that we have found ourselves in this position, but given that there was no one present from Teagasc or [the] ICBF’s technical advisory group at the recent stakeholders workshop on calving evaluations, it is clear to us that they do not intend co-operating in resolving these issues."

He continued: “The Simmental society, as always, are open to engagement, but this engagement must be on the basis that issues with the current evaluation process are accepted and the solutions put forward are considered. A workable evaluation system that restores farmer confidence in the process must be the end goal."