A series of online Teagasc dairy breeding webinars aimed at Irish dairy farmers will run throughout next week.

Four webinars will run each day from Monday, April 20, through to Thursday, April 23. The first in the series will take place on Monday morning at 10.00am, which will be the start time for each seminar, the agricultural authority outlined.

Tom O’Dwyer, head of dairy knowledge transfer, commented on the series, stating:

“Normally at this time of year, we organise farm walks around the country outlining the best practices for dairy breeding.

Given the current restrictions, we have moved to offer a series of four free webinars as we approach the start of the dairy breeding season for most dairy farmers.

“We hope that these webinars will provide the latest information and give an opportunity for dairy farmers to have their questions answered by Teagasc experts,” O’Dwyer said.

Below is a list of the webinars, their presenters and their respective topics.

Pat Dillon, head of the Teagasc Animal and Grassland, Research and Innovation programme, highlighted the importance of making the right decisions at this time of year:

“Improvements in both herd fertility performance and future herd production can be achieved through the application of an optimum breeding management plan, including optimum herd nutrition and the use of high EBI (Economic Breeding Index) and DBI (Dairy Beef Index) genetics.

In addition, sexed semen is a new technology which can have a role to play on many dairy farms. All of the topics are covered during the webinar series.

Over the coming weeks, critical decisions will be taken by all dairy farmers that will influence their dairy herd, not just for next year, but for years to come.

These online webinars will provide the latest knowledge to assist farmers make the best decisions, Teagasc concluded.