ICOS has welcomed confirmation received from the Department of Agriculture that extra Dam data will now be included on bovine passports and this will also be made available on mart display boards.

Ray Doyle, Livestock & Environmental Services Executive of ICOS said, “This is very welcome measure following from representations that we made to the Department last November. The provision of additional Dam data will greatly aid farmers buying calves and will promote adoption of the dairy beef index which in turn, will support improvement in the overall beef traits of the national dairy herd.

“The breeding index helps to identify the likely impact a sire or dam will have on the profitability of the next generation of animals and contributes to the achievement of additional economic benefits for farmers. The greater the availability of information, including the extra data on Dams, then the better it is for farmers as they decide on their current and future stocking arrangements. We wish to thank the Department for this development.”

The aim of the Bovine Animal Identification System is to guarantee the safety of beef and beef products by the operation of an effective animal identification and tracking system. The system has four elements: tagging, bovine passport, on-farm bovine herd registers and a computerised database.