The Dairy Beef Calf Programme has brought about increased weighing of dairy beef cattle in Ireland. In total over 19,300 weights have been submitted to date (12/08/21) in 2021 from herds participating in the scheme.

Of these 19,300 weights, there are over 16,600 eligible calves weighed and recorded. The remaining weights are recorded from ineligible animals and birth weights.

There are a significant amount of extra weights being recorded on the ICBF database as a result of this programme that most likely wouldn’t have been gathered otherwise. All of this extra weight data will help contribute to improving the reliability of genetic evaluations into the future.

There are also a small number of eligible weights recorded where there is no scales registered. It is important to remember that a scales must be registered this year as with the BEEP-S scheme in order for a herd to receive payment for the work done in the programme.

There are 734 herds with eligible weights and a scales registered, borrowed or rented to date.