A part-time farmer based in Co. Kerry claims he has pulled out of the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) because of changes in the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) Euro-star indices.

Denis Carey breeds about 40 commercial Belgian Blues, focusing on "quality", using 100% artificial insemination (AI), and said he has had no trouble calving in the past.

While Carey was previously receiving support from SCEP, he claims that following changes he was informed that a percentage of his herd only had one or two stars, and that he would need a following five cows with stars to continue to qualify.

Action 1 of SCEP requires at least 80% of the calves are sired by a 4- or 5-star bull in years 1 or 2 of the programme, increasing to 85% in years 3 and 4 and then ultimately 90% by the end of the programme.

Carey said that many of his calves are exported, and claims that the ICBF had no data for these calves.

He also said that he has many cows ranked minus star ratings that are producing "plenty of milk", and said that he pulled out of SCEP because "a piece of paper can't tell what a cow will do".

Carey told Agriland that he has a 10-year-old cow with "a rating of -8". He claims he was told that the cow would not produce much or any milk due to genetics, which "is not the case".

The cow recently had a calf sold at 450kg at 10-months-old which he claimed sold for €5.40/kg.

"Even if they came out and examined cows after they have calved down, and see if they have milk - that would be a better representation," Carey said.

He said that leaving SCEP has been a "financial hit", but in his opinion he says, that "whether you're in it or not in it, the bill for the suckler cow is always there".

"I had no problem with the Bord Bia side of things, that should be a dead set in every yard.

"The communication on the changes couldn't be faulted either. I had no problem with anything bar the stars," Carey said.

He claims that the changes in ICBF indices "snookered" farmers that focus on "breeding quality", and that the requirements "no longer fit his system".

"There are three things a cow needs to do for me, try and calve herself, rear a calf and go back into calf," Carey said.

Several societies have made the decision to cease publishing Euro-star indices from sales catalogues.

In Carey's opinion these decisions "were made a little too late" and "didn't put enough pressure on".

"The societies pulled out too late and the pressure was put on too late. The horse is after bolting now, too many have pulled out," Carey said.

The ICBF's position is that if a farmer purchases a bull and a breed society tries to remove the evaluations, the farmer still has the evaluations for their bull.

The ICBF has also confirmed that the economic values of the indices will be updated this summer and said that Teagasc’s Dr. Paul Crosson is currently working on these updates.