Chair of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Michael O’Connell, has described the eligible cow criteria of the Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme as “ridiculous”.
The terms and conditions under the scheme highlights breeds under two classes: dairy and beef, and participants are required to have calves born in the scheme year.
Calves must be sired from a stock bull or AI straw with a minimum rating of three stars on the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) Dairy Beef Index (DBI) and on the beef sub-index of the DBI.
As part of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM) allocation from the national budget, an increased payment rate for the scheme of €40/calf, up from €20/calf, was announced (payments will still be subject to a limit of 50 calves per holding).
The ICMSA livestock chair said that farmers using “dual purpose” breeds such as Fleckvieh and Montbeliarde are “being excluded”, as the breeds are not classified as a dairy breed in the eligible cow criteria of the scheme.
ICMSA
“These breeds are producing a calf that have all the attributes required in the beef and dairy industry. The calf being produced by these cows has the ability to meet carcass requirements as set out by processors in terms of carcass conformation and carcass weight.
“The omission of these breeds is ridiculous and needs to be revisited so that we see these good quality calves that these breeds produce with the selection of a suitable bull or AI straw be included,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell added that the dairy beef scheme is about “supporting the production of better quality beef animals” and that the Fleckvieh and Montbeliarde breeds could make “a very important contribution” to this objective.
The ICMSA is now calling on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to re-evaluate the criteria and to include both breeds as ‘eligible’.
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