ICOS Marts Chairman Sean Brosnan has reminded farmers potentially entering calves in the new dairy beef welfare scheme to read the terms and conditions carefully. 

“There is only one action required under the scheme,” said Brosnan. “Applicants will be required to have calves born on the holding in the scheme year. These must be sired from a 3-, 4- or 5-star stock bull or from 3, 4 or 5 star AI straws, or a mixture of both.”

“All sires must be genotyped, with a minimum of a 3 star rating on the DBI and the beef sub index within or across breed. This feature, while welcome to ensure the validity of the sire, is one that all farmers need to be aware of now as the breeding season approaches. This is important as many dairy farmers will use AI early in the season but will be relying on stock bulls, the majority of which will not yet be genotyped.

“Farmers need to ensure to genotype or only purchase genotyped stock bulls if they intend on applying for this scheme,” Brosnan said.

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