Belgian Blue Society hosts breed event on Laois suckler farm
Hundreds of farmers and cattle enthusiasts from across Ireland gathered in Rathdowney, Co. Laois, on Wednesday evening (November 5), on the farm of Edward Thompson for the Irish Belgian Blue Cattle Society open evening.
Edward Thompson and his family are suckler farmers and run an agri-contracting business also.
The Thompsons' have over 80 suckler cows and primarily produce Belgian Blue-sired bull calves for export as well as breeding heifers.
The society opening evening ran in conjunction with a timed auction of 36 commercial maiden heifers owned by Edward Thompson.
The sale is running in association with Ballymahon Mart, Co. Longford on MartEye and draws to a close on Friday evening, November 7.
The Belgian Blue Society president Thomas Doherty from Co. Clare and breed secretary Sean Sherman from Co. Laois opened the event and welcomed those in attendance.
The host farmer gave a brief overview of his system and explained the role the Belgian Blue breed has on his farm.
Chris Daly from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) gave an overview of the genetic makeup of the herd.
The table below details the main sires of the 2025 calf crop:
| AI Code | Name | Terminal Index | Calving diff% | Carcass Weight | Carcass Conformation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB7383 | Top Side Out There P | €92 | 10.1 | 24.2 | 2.26 |
| BB9463 | Hong Wang | €110 | 11.5 | 28.8 | 2.48 |
| BB9854 | Rollie | €143 | 10.5 | 35.3 | 2.63 |
| RWS | Rosemount Cash | €104 | 11.3 | 26.6 | 2.85 |
| S3803 | Solway View Lucifer | €163 | 5.2 | 34.1 | 2.47 |
| Average: | €122 | 9.7 | 29.8 | 2.54 |
The herd has an average calving interval of 380 days, with 0.98 calves/cow/year and 40% of the heifers are calved at 24 months-of-age.
Rose Goulding from the National Cattle Breeding Centre (NCBC) outlined some of the key traits sought in the Belgian Blue bulls offered by NCBC.
She said: "What we're looking for is exceptional weight, exceptional shape, great legs and feet, no genetic defects and average calving."
Recent NCBC recruit Martin Ryan spoke on what exporters are looking for when buying weanlings.
Rose Goulding advised farmers on what to look for when selecting a Belgian Blue bull for an individual farmers' herd.
She said when selecting bulls on calving difficulty: "If you want to be sure on the calving, use the more proven bulls and they're the bulls with more than 90% reliability on the calving figure.
Myostatin in the Belgian Blue breed
"All Belgian Blue sires carry two copies of the double muscle gene nt821, and it is useful if you know the myostatin status of your cows when you're mating," Goulding said.
"If you have cows that are carriers of myostatin and you're putting double carriers on them, you will end up with a percentage of double-muscle calves, which is super because you get the quality but you also have a high risk of calving difficulty."
She highlighted that anyone on HerdPlus with ICBF can go in and look at the myostatin status of their cows, which will help them "really get to understand why some cows bring that bit more shape in a calf".
"If you really want to avoid trouble, use your blue bulls on cows that are non carriers and if you really want to go for show quality, use them on the carriers but beware you need to be there when they're calving," Goulding said.
"It's all about using the information you have on your cows and the AI bulls."
Jim Dockery gave an overview of health and safety on farms - in particular - when calving cows.
He suggested hanging gates higher in calving pens so the gate can be brought over a newborn calf, thereby allowing a farmer access to the calf while being safely separated from the cow.
After this, Eoin O'Sullivan from Dawn Meats announced the winners of the Dawn Meats carcass competition.
The event drew to a close with a presentation from the Irish Farmers' Association's Livestock Committee chairperson Declan Hanrahan before the event organisers thanked all those who attended.
