Farmers urged to record calves' birth defects with ICBF

The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) is encouraging farmers to fill out its congenital defect survey this spring if they notice any calves born with birth defects or deformities on their farm.

This data helps ICBF to identify, monitor and manage genetic defects present in the Irish cattle population.

ICBF has said that over the past 10 years, “almost 600 cases of congenital defects have been reported by farmers via the ICBF survey”.

Examples of possible congenital defects include tail abnormalities, blindness/eye defect, ear defect, atresia, cleft palate, dwarfism, joint/leg defect or behavioural defect.

Research

Research has been undertaken on the most common abnormalities including intestinal atresia (blocked intestine), multiple defects (at least two defects in the same animal) and tail abnormalities (no tail, short tails, deformed tails).

In the survey, farmers will be asked for their herd number, calf tag number, dam tag number and sire tag number or AI code.

The survey also asks farmers to record if the calf was a twin, to describe the defect in as much detail as possible and to send any photos or videos of the affected animal to a specified mobile number. This survey plays a part in the ICBF’s wider National Genotyping Programme with ICBF expecting over 1,100,000 calves to be genotyped at birth in 2026.

More information on recording congenital defects can be found on the ICBF website. The survey can be found at the link here.