Bulls may not be ineligible for SCEP
ICBF chief executive Sean Coughlan explained some of the bulls to lose their four-star status may still be eligible.
Pedigree beef breeders have found the genetic merit of around 25,000 animals, 4.5% of their bulls born in 2022 and 2023, which are yet unsold were reduced by the recent Beef Euro-Star index changes.
Despite assurances from ICBF, there have been calls to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to intervene, and to ask the ICBF to pause the index changes.
Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) chief executive Sean Coughlan explained how the re-classification of beef indices affected breeders, in a statement issued to the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture.
The 4.5% of bulls lost their eligibility for the Suckler Cow Efficiency Programme (SCEP), in which breeding bulls must be four or five-star rated.
However, only 40% of pedigree bulls sold to suckler herds were sold into SCEP herds, in 2022, Mr Coughlan said. "60% were sold into non-SCEP herds".
He added: “On the replacement index (Across Breed), 8% of the bulls that were previously four or five stars are now not. Some of those bulls would be four or five stars on the within-breed replacement index or on the Terminal index, and therefore are still scheme-eligible.
“...This week, we have written to all SCEP participants. We will be doing further direct communication to allay fears and to ensure farmers have a full understanding of what the changes are, and how these changes will benefit the national suckler herd".
“Suckler farming continues to be under pressure from many fronts. We are very confident in the ability of genetics to deliver improved economic, environmental, and social sustainability for Irish suckler farmers. The new economic values are more representative of the impact that advances in production traits have on the profitability of Irish suckler beef production systems”.
He explained how a star rating system was introduced in 2012 to make it easier for beef farmers to quickly understand the genetic merit of an animal. The top 20% animals would be five star, the top 40% would be four star.
He said these Euro-Star ratings have been widely used in stock-bull purchasing decisions over the past number of years. Analysis has shown that five-star animals consistently outperform one-star animals, proving the effectiveness of these indexes in improving profitability on Irish beef farms.
Genetic trends in the suckler herd have been positive in recent years, with improvements in the suckler cow herd while also progressing on the terminal side, with carcase weights and conformation improving, and earlier age at finishing.
In changes to the Euro-Star Indexes, input (feed, labour, etc) and output prices (per kg of beef carcass and per kg of weaning weight) have been updated, along with incorporating ‘carbon’ into the indexes, to help produce a lower carbon-footprint animal.
The latter was done by assessing the impact of a unit change in each performance trait on-farm emissions and converting this to monetary values by assuming a carbon price of €80/t. Three other new traits were incorporated into the indexes; finishing age, TB resistance, and carcass specifications.
The economic values for calculating indexes were previously updated in 2015. Since then, input prices settled at a a new baseline much higher than heretofore. Beef prices also increased (ICBF includes a 16% increase relative to 2015).
So it’s a major challenge for beef systems to manage production costs, said Mr Coughlan. And there is also the ambition to further reduce GHG emissions from beef cattle in line with government objectives to reduce emissions from agriculture by 25% by 2030 relative to 2018.
“While we accept, that at the present time, farmers do not get rewarded for reducing GHG emissions, there are clear policy, market and consumer signals that this is an important issue and we must future-proof farmers interests through the indexes in line with these expectations”, said Mr Coughlan.
“These new economic figures have been applied to the evaluations to make them more relevant”.
The changes are of course additional to the changes in ICBF’s six valuations per year as new data on animal performance becomes available (mart data, factory data, calving data, etc.). There are also evolutions in terms of how ICBF calculates the indexes.
After the recent big changes to the star ratings, 84% of the females who were four or five star before remain in the four or five star category. Those that have dropped in the star ratings will hold their original star rating qualification status for the duration of the SCEP scheme.
Mr Coughlan said 82% of herds have enough females in the herd to make them eligible for the next SCEP deadline at the end of 2025. “We will need to engage with some farmers, especially those with closed herds, in order to help them implement a strategy that keeps them SCEP compliant, but this will be a minority of herds”.
But Minister McConalogue has been asked to intervene by representatives such as Sinn Fein agriculture spokesperson Claire Kerran.
She said she spoke to a farmer who lost more than €100,000 overnight. “He had to tell his daughter she will not be able to go to college, as the family will not be able to afford to send her there”.
She said the cross-party Oireachtas committee addressed by Mr Coughlan was unanimous and united in its ask of the ICBF to pause the changes it has made to the index and to engage, as it ought to have done in the first place.
Minister McConalogue responded that he was aware of the concerns among some farmers about the recent changes to the ICBF beef index, particularly farmers participating in the SCEP.
He welcomed ICBF’s commitment to convene an industry stakeholder forum to address issues and concerns raised by suckler farmers and pedigree breeders.
He said animals in SCEP herds whose index falls will not be impacted by the changes, unless the SCEP participant sells an animal that has gone down in rating.
“It is only when this animal moves out of this herd, that its three-star rating will become applicable and it will no longer meet the four-star and five-star eligibility criteria”.
“If a farmer owns one of the 16% of cows that were four-star or five-star but dropped, the farmer will still get paid the SCEP money as long as the cow remains in the herd”.
