What is G€N€ IR€LAND?

The G€N€ IR€LAND program allows us gather information at a young stage in a bull’s life in order to increase his reliability for all of the key traits that influence profit. As a result of having collected and evaluated this information, breeders can then make better decisions when selecting a bull for their herd.

The program works by first sending out 700 straws on each individual bull to participating herd-owners. From there, key information is recorded on all male and female progeny including gestation length, calving difficulty, weaning weight, carcass data and maternal performance. There are attractive incentives for herd-owners to get involved in the program, including €20 for each recorded insemination to a test bull. There were about 400 herds involved in this years Spring 2009 program with places currently available for the Autumn 09 program. If you are interested in getting involved, you should please contact 023 20458 or 045 521573.

Tully is the first step in getting a bull onto the G€N€ IR€LAND as the top young bulls that excel in both Terminal Beef and Maternal traits are selected for performance testing. Bulls selected for Tully are in the top of their respective breed for both Suckler beef value (SBV) and Milk and Fertility (M & F). The fact that eligible bulls have a high star rating for maternal traits ensures that, when used for breeding heifer replacements, selected bulls have the potential to produce a calf with superior weaning weights, excellent conformation and good growth rates.