Cattle breeders pull support for Irish Cattle Breeding Federation over 'misguided' star rating system

Breed societies have expressed lack of confidence in federation and want independent audit of the Euro Star system

A spokesperson for the Irish Dexter Cattle Society warned the scheme had the potential to undo more than 100 years of breed preservation work in a few short years. File picture

Several breed society representatives have pulled their support for the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) as the fall-out over the star system has reached breaking point.

The Pedigree Breeders' Council of Ireland made a no-confidence vote in the ICBF on Friday, February 14, and requested an independent audit of the Euro Star system is carried out.

It was a move supported by the Irish Cattle & Sheep farmers' Association (ICSA), with the association's suckler chairman Jimmy Cosgrave explaining: "The ICSA also lacks confidence in ICBF, as well as Teagasc on this issue, due to their persistent failure to acknowledge and address the valid concerns of suckler farmers regarding the star rating system.

Many [suckler farmers] have suffered substantial financial losses as a direct result of misguided policies and flawed evaluations. Worse still, the Irish suckler herd has lost some of its best genetics due to a system that has actively undermined proven, high-performing bloodlines.

“...Confidence in the entire breeding evaluation framework has been severely damaged and suckler farmers feel very wronged," he added.

The issue raised its head again after recent changes to the ICBF algorithm to address the concerns of continental cattle breeders, which had a negative impact on smaller, lighter breeds. For example, the average Dexter herd shifted from a euro value of more than €100 to below -€20.

A spokesperson for the Irish Dexter Cattle Society warned the scheme had the potential to undo more than 100 years of breed preservation work in a few short years.

"Never in the history of a domesticated species has a more effective inbreeding programme been implemented. Connecting farmers' incomes to the output from this programme, via the SCEP scheme, has obliged farmers to make breeding decisions based on this inbreeding programme," she said.

Farmers are expected to make these decisions despite the fact that the rules implemented by the algorithm are continuously changing and that farmers are not allowed to see this set of rules.

But the reaction was no better from the continentals, with both the Irish Salers Cattle Society and Irish Charolais Cattle Society announcing they would not include the star values in their 2025 catalogues.

IFA livestock chairman Declan Hanrahan said it was up to individual breed societies to decide how they run their premier sales and what information was made available. 

However, he added farmers buying breeding bulls were making a significant financial investment and should be provided with all available information to help in the selection process.

A spokesperson for ICBF said: The stakeholder meeting on Friday was constructive. We have committed to reverting to the stakeholders in the next couple of weeks incorporating feedback from the meeting, and we look forward to further positive engagement.”