Mr. Michael Doran:

Yes. I am a farmer. I have been a suckler farmer for 20 years. The objective of the changes that have been put in place this time to determine the index is to have easier calving, shorter gestation, less calf mortality, better conformation in carcasses and heavier carcasses, earlier finishing age, less feed intake and improved TB resistance. That is on the terminal side. On the replacement side, we are looking for more fertile cows and this is the direction of travel that these changes are going to bring us. They will be slightly lighter cows, so a little bit more feed efficient, easier calving, have a shorter gestation, less calf mortality, earlier finishing age, less feed intake and improved TB resistance. That comes at a slight cost in relation to slightly lighter carcasses of their offspring but the terminal index can then make up for that. We are trying to improve the type of cow that we have on farm and the type of terminal bulls that we have available to people as well. The direction of travel is what the indexes are trying to do. It is a piece of information to help farmers make those breeding decisions.