33 marts have display boards for Euro-Star and EBI figures
More and more marts throughout the country are displaying Euro-Star and EBI figures of animals for sale.
The mart boards provide real-time animal information, allowing farmers at the ringside view ICBF Euro-Star ratings for beef breeding stock, and EBIs for dairy stock.
Currently, 33 marts display Euro-Star/EBI figures on animals.
Installation of these mart boards is on-going, so more and more marts will display figures in the future.
In order for animals to have figures displayed on the mart boards, they must:
* Reside in a herd currently taking part in the Beef, Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP), or currently subscribed to ICBF’s ‘HerdPlus’ subscription service.
* They must have an index above average for EBI (€69) or, for beef animals, they must be four or five stars (within or across breed stars).
If you are currently in the BDGP programme, or a member of HerdPlus, your animals are currently eligible, provided they meet the index criteria.
If you are not currently in the BDGP, you will have to sign up to HerdPlus in order to have your animals’ figures displayed.
Of current BDGP/HerdPlus member herds, 44% of animals’ details are being displayed on the boards.
While this is positive, it is still only 8% of all animals.
With the re-opening of the BDGP, and more signing up to HerdPlus, ICBF expect to see the number of animals displayed increase steadily.
* Here is the list of marts, in alphabetical order, currently displaying Euro-Star and EBI figures on animals: Balla, Ballina, Ballinasloe, Ballinrobe, Ballybay Livestock Sales, Ballybofey and Stranorlar, Ballymote, Carnaross, Carndonagh, Cashel Mart, Castleisland Co-Op, Castlerea Co-op, Cootehill, Dingle, Dowra Mart Ltd, Elphin, Ennis, Headford Co-op, JP &M Doyle, Kanturk, Kenmare, Kilfenora, Kilkenny, Kilrush, Loughrea, Mid Tipp, Mohill, Newport, Raphoe Livestock, Skibbereen, Waterford Ross Co-Op, and Wexford Farmers Co-Op.
