Calving Difficulty Ready Reckoner (All Breeds)
The 2020 Genetic Evaluations seen a lot of change for farmers. One such change was to the calving evaluations. (more…)
Business as usual at ICBF
In light of these unprecedented times, we want to take this opportunity to first and foremost wish good health for you, your families, and your communities.
ICBF has worked proactively to mitigate risk and ensure business continuity, with top priorities given to the well-being of our colleagues, public health and seamless continuation of services. (more…)
Dairy Gene Ireland Update-17,470 straws sold
There are now over 485 herds signed-up to the Dairy Gene Ireland Programme taking a total of 17,470 straws to date. There are still Dairy Gene Ireland straws available to order. (more…)
Weaning Performance Reports issued to BEEP herds
ICBF has recently issued ‘Weaning Performance Reports’ to all herds that participated in the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) in 2019. Farmers weighed suckler calves and their dams and submitted the data to ICBF as part of the pilot. These reports have been generated on the back of this weight data. (more…)
BEEP – worth its weight in gold
Pat Donnellan, ICBF talks through some of the reasons why BEEP is worth its weight in gold.
‘Getting them all in to weigh will be some dose, are you home this weekend to help?’, ‘Well, have a guess, what weight do you think she is?’, ‘I can’t believe how heavy he is!’. All of these and many more like them could be heard on suckler farms (more…)
Top Dairy Bulls of 2019
With the 2020 breeding season on the horizon, now is a good time to look back at the previous breeding season. Below, we display the top 10 AI bulls used in 2019 based on the data recorded on the ICBF database. (more…)
Paula Hynes – The power is in our hands to ensure the next generation knows no boundaries
As a mother of three girls, when I took the leap from working in retail to becoming a full-time farmer in late 2014, it certainly was daunting. I had just given birth to our youngest daughter Georgie and whilst I always loved animals, I had no farming experience. (more…)
HerdPlus Graduate Programme 2020
ICBF are currently recruiting for the position of ‘HerdPlus Graduate Program’. Successful candidates will be offered an exciting opportunity to join our world leading organisation for a twelve-month period commencing in September 2020. (more…)
DNA based calf registration – Not only possible but also feasible
‘Mark Waters, ICBF goes through the next step for animal traceability’. In 1996, Ireland became world leaders in the traceability of cattle from birth to factory when the Cattle Movement Monitoring System (CMMS) was introduced. This system required all farmers to apply identification tags to each calf at birth and register this unique number in the Animal Identification and Movements (AIM) database. (more…)