The application screen will go live on the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) website on Tuesday, August 6 at 2pm. This is an extension to the world-first initiative, which opened in May. Since its launch, over 10,600 participating herds and over 1.3 million animals have been genotyped. By increasing participation, the minister said, another significant step is taken towards genotyping the entire national bovine herd. The programme, open to both beef and dairy herd owners is a cost-sharing model between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, industry, and farmers.
Commenting, the minister said: "The genotyping programme is already facilitating the delivery of tangible benefits in terms of breeding decisions, which will have a knock-on benefit for climate action, animal health, and productivity at farm level. Genotyped weanlings and store cattle that are being traded through marts have their commercial beef value (CBV) displayed on mart screens. CBV is critical for rearers in purchasing animals and dairy farmers to receive feedback on breeding decisions. We have seen the influence of the CBV around the ring in recent months,” the Minister added.
The ICBF will continue to administer the programme, and Sean Coughlan, chief executive officer of the ICBF said: “ICBF welcomes the opportunity to bring more herds into the National Genotyping Programme. This builds on the excellent momentum gained over the course of the programme so far and will provide more Irish farmers with the tools to make informed, data driven decisions on farm.”