Dr. Sean McCarthy:

From the perspective of giving farmers guidance in terms of where they sit on a monthly basis, ultimately it would be good if that information was available in the AgFood portal, from where farmers are accustomed to seeking information. The key information is available there and we submit at farmers' requests. We submit the milk volume information through the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, and they generate the banding piece and the farmers select the different bands they are committing to. That information is then aligned with land information, etc. from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Another opportunity that is probably there is a decision support tool that could be provided on the ICBF platform. This tool should have a forecasting component to it so that on a monthly basis, not only can farmers receive an indication of where they sit, they could also move a lever in terms of inputs like crude protein percentage, etc. If we have a year like this and if a farmer is asked today where he or she thinks he or she is going to end up in terms of even the crude protein piece, there is a lot of feed gone in in the last few months, so the questions is what is the autumn going to entail. Ultimately, that figure cannot be generated with entire certainty until the end of the year. What farmers need is a tool that will allow them to forecast on a monthly basis where they are likely to sit and what they need to do in terms of animal numbers. It is an indication of where farmers are at, as well as a forecasting decision support tool that they need in order to allow them to make what are quite substantial decisions in terms of reducing stock numbers throughout the year. Without that information, they are going to hesitate to make that decision and an over-correction may have to be done the later in the year that it happens. A farmer's stocking rate could be reduced in September but it may have to be reduced substantially more in December to meet a target.