What role do genetics play in producing better beef animals from the dairy herd?
Over the coming weeks, ICBF and ABP will explore this question through a new nine-part video series highlighting the impact of the Dairy Beef Gene Ireland Programme, the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) and the collaboration helping to drive progress across the Irish dairy-beef sector.
Established in 2015, the Dairy Beef Gene Ireland Programme was developed to identify beef genetics that can deliver benefits throughout the supply chain. The aim is to help dairy farmers produce calves with strong beef potential while also supporting improved performance, profitability and sustainability for beef farmers and processors.
Since its launch, the programme has grown significantly, with more than 600 dairy farms participating and over 885,000 calves born from progeny-tested bulls. Through collaboration between ICBF, ABP, farmers, AI companies and pedigree breeders, the programme has become one of the largest dairy-beef progeny testing initiatives in Europe.
At the heart of the programme is data. Calves are monitored throughout their lives to collect information on growth, health, feed efficiency, carcass performance and environmental traits. This data helps identify the genetics delivering the best results and supports tools such as the Commercial Beef Value (CBV), allowing farmers to make more informed breeding and purchasing decisions.
Throughout this series, we’ll explore:
- How the Dairy Beef Gene Ireland Programme works
- The role of the ABP Demo Farm
- The value of the Commercial Beef Value (CBV)
- The importance of sire selection and genetic evaluations
- Partnerships between dairy and beef farmers
- The wider impact of genetics across the beef industry
- Initiatives supporting the next generation of beef farmers
Episode 1: Why the Dairy Beef Gene Ireland Programme Matters
In the first episode, Stephen Connolly, Agri Sustainability Manager with ABP, explains why the programme was established, how it works and the impact it has delivered over the past decade.
The episode highlights the challenge the programme was designed to solve, the importance of collaboration across the supply chain and how genetics and data are helping to improve dairy-beef profitability, efficiency and sustainability.
Watch Episode 1 below and follow the series as we explore how better breeding decisions today are helping to deliver better beef tomorrow.