Breeding Week – Six Point Breeding Plan

New dairy breeding guidelines have been sent to herd owners for Spring 2021 season. The guidelines have been developed by a Department of Agriculture working group involving key stakeholders such as the Department of Agriculture, Teagasc, ICBF and the broader industry. The guidelines include six simple steps which if followed will ensure the continued improvement of your dairy herd into the future. In this short clip, Andrew Cromie of ICBF outlines these six steps. (more…)

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Breeding Week – Using teams of bulls equally

Invariably bulls are only proven for milk traits and not for female fertility traits which remains a key issue for dairy farmers. If you want to improve fertility and other traits related to fitness on your farm then you need to use teams of bulls. In this short clip, Margaret Kelleher from ICBF speaks about when planning what bulls to use this breeding season, also plan how to use each bull equally across your herd. (more…)

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FBD Breeding Awards Winners

ICBF and FBD would like to congratulate and thank this year’s winners and all the finalists involved in the 2020 FBD Breeding Awards. The hard work and determination shown by all the finalists across the beef, dairy and sheep categories will lead to a more profitable and sustainable future at both an individual and a national herd level. (more…)

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FBD Best Dairy Herd Finalist – “Milk recording is an essential tool for managing SCC and identifying poor performing cows in the Knockmullane herd”

Brendan Brady operates a 130 pedigree HO/FR cow herd under the Knockmullane prefix in Innishannon, Co Cork. The overall herd EBI has seen a steady increase from €133 in 2016 to €189 in 2021. (more…)

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