The breeding season is drawing to a close on most spring-calving Irish dairy farms, with artificial insemination (AI) stopping and bulls being pulled out.

For the most part farms are reporting the season to have gone well.

The season started in wet conditions, with some farms struggling to keep cows at grass without causing damage.

The weather then turned and we had a couple of weeks of grass growth and grazing conditions – although this did not last.

It would not be like us Irish to complain about good weather. But for farmers, the good, dry weather remained for too long, and some farms began to burn up – with grass growth reducing to a snail’s pace.

This lead to many farms introducing silage bales into their cows’ diets and increasing concentrates supplementation.

This was a concern for many farmers. Cows in the early stages of pregnancy can be prone to embryo loss if they come under stress.

AI usage

Recent figures released from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) show an increase in the use of AI from technicians using handhelds.

The total recorded serves is approaching one million in 2021, so far.

As of July 16, there were 981,166 AI serves recorded, this represents a 9% increase on the same period in 2020, when 894,008 AI serves had been recorded.

Increased genetic gains

The use of AI on Irish farms allows for the fastest increase of genetic gain within your own and the national herd.

A recent report from ICBF showed that since 2002, the national herd’s economic breeding index (EBI) has increased by €171.

This can mainly be attributed to the use of high EBI value sires being used by Irish farmers. With the benefits of this being seen at farm level.

Looking at the top three AI sires from 2020 used on dairy cows [Kilfeacle Pivotal (FR4728); Doonmanagh Seville (FR4547); Ballygown Albert (FR4513)]. We can see that these three bulls have an average EBI value of €293 and last year had 118,989 total serves recorded.