First of all, don’t panic, the issues that these text messages relate to are minor and very simple to rectify. There are many reasons why you may have a received a text from us (outlined below).
Using a bull only for his ‘easy calving’ or ‘short gestation’ attributes can result in lighter carcasses. However, incorporating several traits simultaneously into selection decisions using an overall index (i.e., the Dairy Beef Index; DBI) can produce more balanced cattle with more favourable economic returns. (more…)
ICBF HerdPlus has just launched a new dairy bull usage report for dairy farmers. This report is an additional page to the weekly fertility report. The report outlines the main breeding guidelines on the minimum number of bulls to be used in your herd and the maximum bull usage recommended for individual bulls during the breading season. (more…)
From feedback we received from users of Sire Advice, we have made an improvement to the female selector screen. If females are selected for beef, culling, or crossbreeding this is now saved and retained for multiple Sire Advice runs throughout the current breeding season. (more…)
It is hard to believe we are into May already. Life seems to be moving even faster whilst we are in lockdown. One can only hope that we are on the home straight now. Too wet, too cold, too dry pretty much sums up what grazing conditions have been like for the last two months but thankfully normality has returned and while the country was on yellow weather alert, it was a cause for celebration for all farmers. (more…)
In 2019, we added a small but useful improvement to the record ‘Heat & AI’ screen which is aimed to make the recording process simpler (more…)
EBI or the Economic Breeding Index is a measure of the genetic potential of an animal. Research by Teagasc was undertaken to validate if EBI is delivering at farm level using E-profit monitor data. The research findings have shown us that for every €1 increase in EBI will result in a €2 gain in net profit/ cow. (more…)
Siobhán Ring, geneticist with ICBF, discusses how certain family lines produce cattle more resistant to TB, and how ICBF’s genetic evaluation can help identify them (more…)
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue T.D. advised farmers and advisors of the official opening of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP–S) and the Dairy Beef Calf Programme under the new Beef Sector Efficiency Pilot for 2021 on 16 March 2021. (more…)