David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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16. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on the recent publication of the new bull replacement and terminal index ratings by an organisation (details supplied); the potential impact this could have on beef suckler farms and the suckler carbon efficiency programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55528/23]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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22. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine what engagement he has had with an organisation (details supplied) on rating changes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55815/23]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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This question offers the Minister an opportunity to give us his views on the recent publication of the new bull replacement and terminal index ratings and the potential impact this might have on bull sucker farms and the suckler carbon efficiency programme, and to make a statement on the matter.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 16 and 22 together.

The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, is the body that is approved in Ireland in accordance with the relevant EU legislation to conduct testing, genetic evaluation and publication of breeding values for dairy and beef cattle. It has recently updated the beef breeding indices. This was the first major update of the beef breeding indices since 2015 and it is based mainly on changing economic drivers such as feed costs and beef prices. A modest adjustment also took place based on earlier slaughter of animals as well as tuberculosis resistance, carcass specifications and lower methane output.

I understand that prior to the updates, continentals such as Charolais, Limousin and Belgian Blue were the most desirable terminal cattle breeds, and that continues to be the case after the changes. With regard to the replacement index, the top three most desirable replacement breeds are Aberdeen Angus, Limousin and Simmental, and they remain the top three as well after the changes.

The ICBF has recently committed to convening an industry stakeholder forum to address issues and concerns raised by suckler farmers and pedigree breeders, and I welcome that engagement.

The suckler carbon efficiency programme, SCEP, aims to provide support to suckler farmers to improve the profitability and environmental sustainability of the national beef herd. I understand from the ICBF that 84% of 4-star and 5-star animals prior to the changes to the indices will retain that status after the changes. This means that 16% of 4-star and 5-star animals are adjusted.

Animals in SCEP herds whose index falls will not be impacted by the changes unless the SCEP participant sells an animal that has gone down in rating. It is only when this animal moves out of the herd that its 3-star rating, for example, will become applicable, rather than the previous 4-star or 5-star rating. I understand that any other issues arising will be addressed in the coming months in the stakeholder forum and communications will be issued to SCEP participants by ICBF. I will continue to monitor any impact on SCEP closely because I want to make sure that farmers know where they stand, are backed with their payments, and have the confidence to stay with it. I am confident that the amended indexes will contribute to the overall profitability and sustainability of beef production at farm level and my Department will continue to monitor the impact of the amended indexes on SCEP participants.

The data has changed. The evidence that has been gathered over the course of the last number of schemes and collated by the ICBF has changed. Whenever the evidence changes, it has to adjust its star ratings and apply them so that people know what they are dealing with. Regarding the impact on that SCEP programme, one has to have a certain percentage of 4-star and 5-star cows in the SCEP scheme to be paid. If a cow started off as a 4-star or 5-star cow in the SCEP scheme, even if the evidence now indicates that the cow would be a 3-star cow in future, in recognition of the fact that it was a 4-star or 5-star cow, as long as it stays in that herd it will continue to be paid for annually within the SCEP and to be able to meet the percentage thresholds that the farmer needs to meet while the cow stays there. Obviously the farmer then needs to adjust his breeding plans for replacements, so in the future he would seek replacement cows that are 4-star or 5-star cows, not ones that were 4-star or 5-star cows but were adjusted. To give that time and space to replenish with 4-star or 5-star cows, taking account of the new indexes, farmers will still get paid for the full duration of that cow being in the SCEP scheme. While that cow stays there, it will stay as a 4-star or 5-star cow and will get the €150 per year.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. I welcome the setting up of this forum because a certain amount of information needs to be given to farmers and others who are concerned about it. Would the Minister agree that, if the ratings are reduced, this would result in fewer high-quality exports, fewer animals hitting local marts every week and fewer top-quality animals going to factories, which would result in less income for the country through exports and cattle sales and less income for already struggling beef suckler farmers? Would he also agree that factories would need to kill a larger number of a herd of Angus cattle to make up for the loss of these continental breeds, because the other breeds simply do not carry the muscle mass or weight of continental breeds? Has any research been done into possible income loss for some of these farmers as a result of this change? Has consideration been given to compensating farmers for the income loss? Some of them are quite concerned that they may lose a considerable amount of income on this.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I do not see any impact on factories here. The animals are still the animals. Their breeding potential and capacity to be productive going forward is the key here. That is why it is important that evidence continues to be gathered about the performance of animals so that, going forward, we are breeding the highest performing animals, and that continues to improve profitability. Obviously as you get more data and research, it is important to adjust the ratings so the profitability index shows which are going to be the most profitable. I am stepping in to make sure that the 16% of cows in the SCEP programme that drop down, though 84% will not be changing, retain their star rating for the duration of the scheme and the duration of them being in the herd.

Going forward, people will have to adjust their breeding plans. It will lead to some adjustment for some animals. Some will go down as well as some going up. The important thing is that we are following the data and evidence. That is what farmers would expect of us. If we were-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Minister will get a chance to come back in.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response to the debate. Has any research been done on the possible loss to farmers as a result of these changes? Has that been quantified in any way? There is also an issue in that many farmers are uneasy that constantly selecting for easy calving will lead to cows with poor calving ability due to the smaller pelvic area. That is another concern that the Minister might address. With respect to the SCEP, when the changes come about and the animals move off the farm and are replaced, what will that mean for the income of farmers?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome that the ICBF is engaging with cattle breeders. The board of the ICBF is made up of farmers and farm representatives. It has an important task. Whenever it makes adjustments like this, they will not be easy. In the past, before we had the ICBF star ratings, one had to learn from experience, and one did not really know and had to figure out year to year, from hard learning, what was a good breed or what was not. The idea now is that with the star ratings and gathering evidence, people now have more certainty about what the merits of a particular animal are, which improves the profitability in the process. It is important that whenever one has a change of evidence and data, such as if the evidence in the review of a 4-star hotel indicated that it is now a 3-star hotel, there is no point in trying to tell people it still has four stars when it has three stars, and one has to try to work with that adjustment.

I am doing it with the SCEP scheme by saying that any cows in it which were 4-star or 5-star cows before the adjustment will continue to be paid as 4-star or 5-star cows. That gives farmers the capacity and space to be able to change their breeding policy for replacements. Given that 84% of animals are not changing from 4-star or 5-star animals, and there will be differences in different herds, where it will be more or less, if 84% of cows in the average herd stay the same and 16% adjust, farmers will be taking their replacements from the 84% that have stayed the same. They will plug that into their future breeding because that tells them where the profitability will be.

I know there has been much engagement about the way that the star ratings have been put together and whether it is appropriate. There needs to be good engagement on that. The ICBF does much work on that. I am being helpful in any way that I can with regard to the SCEP scheme because it is making farmers more profitable. That profitability is based on the fact that one adjusts the rating as one gathers more and more evidence. That is why it works and how one makes sure that people are as profitable as possible.