diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/hbase/HBaseRiver.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/hbase/HBaseRiver.java
index 4fd3d67..39afa7f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/hbase/HBaseRiver.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/river/hbase/HBaseRiver.java
@@ -309,6 +309,9 @@ private void parseBulkOfRows(final String timestamp, final ArrayList<ArrayList<K
 				final IndexRequestBuilder request = HBaseRiver.this.esClient.prepareIndex(HBaseRiver.this.index, HBaseRiver.this.type);
 				request.setTimestamp(timestamp);
 				request.setSource(readDataTree(row));
+				if (HBaseRiver.this.idField == null && row.size() > 0) {
+					request.setId(new String(row.get(0).key(), charset));
+				}
 				bulkRequest.add(request);
 			}
 			bulkRequest.execute().addListener((ActionListener<BulkResponse>) this);