DEAR EDITOR,

Every suckler cow I have on the farm at the moment was rated as a 4 or 5 star on the replacement index when they first calved down.

With the latest round of changes, I currently find that less than 30% of the same cows are 4 and 5 star. I have been DNA registering calves and doing everything in my power to give me the best possible information to make breeding decisions.

In my mind that’s too big of a shift to take while I’m trying to select replacements for my herd when an animal is hitting twelve months of age.

It is very hard to play the long breeding game when the goalposts keep moving. It’s obvious now that the old system had flaws if the new values are so different.

If ICBF is now so confident in the new figures, why don’t they give examples of profitable breeding farms that prove their theory?

National data is one thing, but seeing a 40 cow suckler herd make real progress and real money on the back of following the ICBF indexes would be a lot better to see for the farmers on the ground.