A beef heifer’s natural ability to mature quickly, show heat and go in calf will undoubtedly influence how profitable she will be in an Irish Suckler herd. This natural ability (or not) to be able to calve down at 24 months of age, amongst other things, is influenced by genetics.
The 2020 Genetic Evaluations seen a lot of change for farmers. One such change was to the calving evaluations. (more…)
You may already be familiar with the term Genomics as part of the Beef, Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) or just from using genomics as a helpful management tool, but what exactly is genomics? (more…)
There are 4 factors that will both contribute to what ‘Gestation Length’ index figure your bull starts out with and also how it changes over time.1.Backpedigree, 2.Genotype, 3. Foreign Data, 4.Irish Data (more…)
Lionel Mackey and his father Ernest Mackey run a herd of pedigree Aubracs in Donard, Co. Wicklow. The herd consists of around 30 cows and calves and operates under the pedigree prefix ‘Balinclea’. (more…)
There are 4 factors that will both contribute to what ‘Carcass’ index figure your bull starts out with and also how it changes over time.1.Backpedigree, 2.Genotype, 3. Foreign Data, 4.Irish Data (more…)