Dr. Andrew Cromie:

I will go back to the logic behind the 60%. In the herd with 20 cows that is generating eight or nine heifer calves per year, we want to do genotyping on all of those heifer calves. We will then pick up additional animals on the farm and gain information which will be valuable on an ongoing basis in regard to, for example, yearling heifers that he may have purchased. In the case of some farmers, we know approximately 40% of the replacements coming onto suckler farms are purchased-in replacements. We would pick those up as additional animals or we would also prioritise additional cows, in the context of ongoing research and development around supporting the training population work.

Some people have asked whether we will run out of females. We expect that in a small proportion of cases, perhaps towards the end of the scheme, we may find ourselves genotyping some male calves, but they are not valueless in the context of the scheme, because the scheme is also focused on beef traits and carcass traits. Therefore, in the case of any male calf that gets genotyped, we will pick up all of the carcass data subsequently. I will revisit that question of the data, carcass, weanling and weight data. Any male calf that is genotyped in the context of the scheme will also add value to the scheme.