Cattle tag suppliers will make a contribution of 38c to ICBF on all new tag sets sold, as part of a new for the Irish Cattle breeding Federation (ICBF), starting November 1, 2017, writes Stephen Cadogan.
The funding mechanism agreement with tag companies was announced this week by Agriculture Minister Michael Creed.
He said: ‘I am aware of the valuable contribution ICBF has made to the dairy and beef sectors.
“Genetic gain has delivered over €500m of extra profit to the industry overall.
“Farmers have been the main beneficiaries of the work being done by ICBF over the last twenty years and it is essential that this continue into the future.’
ICBF, since its inception in 1998, relied on financial support from the Department of Agriculture, through service provision, and though a direct financial contribution from all farmers when ordering identity tags.
The tag levy contributed 20% of ICBF core funding, but recent policy changes and changes in tag order forms resulted in a significant drop in levy collection.
Farmers buying tags under the new arrangements opted not to pay the voluntary ICBF levy for about 50% of the tags they bought.
This halved tag funding for ICBF.
The objective of the ICBF is to maximise genetic improvement in Irish cattle by collecting, collating and distributing available information and data of practical and scientific interest, and by promoting exchange of all such information and data amongst cattle breeders.
Source: Irish Examiner