The Irish Beef and Lamb Association's (IBLA) suckler committee has said it "rejects outrightly" the position of the Irish Farmers' Association's (IFA) livestock chair, Declan Hanrahan, in relation to information supplied by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).

It marks yet another development in the current debate over the new Euro-Star evaluations which were introduced in November 2023.

Sean Coughlan, chief executive of ICBF, has confirmed to Agriland that the economic values of the Euro-Star indices will be updated in the summer.

Work is already underway on updating the economic values and is being led by Teagasc’s beef enterprise leader Dr. Paul Crosson.

Coughlan also confirmed that farmer recorded data will be used as part of the evaluations from this summer onwards.

Currently, according to the IBLA the "majority of pedigree cattle breed societies" have expressed "no confidence " in revised indices.

However the Irish Farmers' Association's Livestock chair, Declan Hanrahan, has said it is a "matter for individual breed societies how they run their premier sales and the information breeders make available for their bulls".

In statement (issued February 13) Hanrahan said: "Farmers buying breeding bulls from pedigree breeders are making a significant financial investment in these animals and they should be provided with all available information to help in the selection process."

In contrast the IBLA believes it would be "hypocritical of pedigree cattle breeders to advise any prospective bull buyer at the upcoming sales to give any credence to these revised ICBF indices".

The IBLA suckler committee has said it would recommend, that those purchasing bulls this year engage with pedigree breeders and seek their advice as to what suits the buyer’s needs and if they require information as regards sire suitability for the SCEP scheme, this can be obtained online. 

It has commended pedigree cattle breed societies for taking the decision not to print indexes in their sales catalogues.

It believes that doing so would be "an endorsement and validation of the revised indices, which gives the impression to farmers that these revised figures and values were somehow correct". 

According to the IBLA, at a recent stakeholder meeting (February 14) the "ICBF acknowledged that the ratings published are out of date", as the assumptions made in the Teagasc economic model are not aligned with current prices either for inputs or the price of beef.

"Anyone using the ICBF Euro Star rating should only do so knowing this information," the IBLA said.