Breed societies have expressed concerns following meetings this week over the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) star rating system.
The South East Limousin Club voted “no confidence” in the figures following an emergency meeting yesterday (Tuesday, February 4).
The Irish Dexter Cattle Society described the new system as a “one-size-fits-all yoyo algorithm” and said it is “nowhere near ready for prime time”.
Following a stakeholders meeting this week, the society stated that a dry run of the change was not completed and that it was not peer reviewed.
“This programme replaces generations of accumulated knowledge within pedigree breeds on how to preserve breeds while competing to meet market demand,” the Irish Dexter Cattle Society stated.
The star rating system will likely see change in the economic value, the base population, health and management, and linear type evaluations.
Breed societies
In a statement, the Irish Dexter Cattle society said: “From the point of view of the national herd, the Dexter breed and other pedigree breeds are a reservoir of genetics which can be fallen back on when severely flawed inbreeding programmes like this one inevitably go wrong.
“Leaving breeders with no choice other than to make decisions based on star ratings means this reservoir of genetics will be rapidly depleted.
“The Irish Dexter Cattle society is in the business of preserving a native Irish rare breed. This scheme can undo over 100 years of preservation work in a few short years and do irreparable damage to native Irish rare breeds.”
The Irish Limousin Cattle Society will meet tomorrow (Thursday, February 6) to discuss the matter further, while the North East Limousin Club will meet next week.