In the December evaluation, ICBF implemented new software to calculate genomic predictions and reliabilities. The new software ensures the genomic predictions are utilising the most up-to-date methods available which replaces the old system which had been in operation since 2009. (more…)
In line with international best practice, Ireland has now moved to applying a Test Day Model (TDM) approach for genetic evaluation of milk production traits, as opposed to the previous approach of predicted 305-day yield. (more…)
In 2006, we started our mission to provide herd-owners with Dairy HerdPlus containing profiles, reports and applications which would supply useful data for herd owners to aid in decision making on farm and result in increased on-farm profit. In 2007 the HerdPlus service was also rolled out for Beef herds. (more…)
The ICBF animal search facility has had over 3.7 million individual hits for the year 2017. This is an impressive statistic and shows just how much dairy and beef farmers, including people from the breeding industry value the animal search. (more…)
Some recent commentary has suggested that using daughter proven bulls is more profitable than using genomic bulls. This is certainly not the case when we analyse the data from Irish commercial dairy herds! The data is clearly showing that progeny from genomic sires are performing some 3 days better in calving interval, 5% better in survival and 34kg more milk solids when compared to proven sires. (more…)
ICBF HerdPlus has just launched a new Weaning Performance Report for suckler farmers. This new report aims to help farmers identify their best ‘beef producing’ cows. We look forward to this report helping to add further value to the herdplus service for beef farmers including people from the industry. (more…)
The latest Dairy AI bull proofs are now available to view in excel format in the ‘genetic evaluations section’ of our website. (more…)
Recent analysis of the fertility performance of the national suckler herd shows that 5 star Replacement Index cows are delivering the best fertility performance for Irish suckler farmers (table 1). (more…)
The Euro-Star Index is a breeding index designed to aid beef farmers in the selection of more profitable breeding animals. Euro-Star Indexes quantify the genetic component of an animal’s performance across all traits of importance for Irish suckler farmers. (more…)