The first part of the Sustainable Breeding Summit went live last night (Tuesday, April 5), with the first episode focusing on how economic breeding Index (EBI) is delivering for Irish farmers.

Bull selection and distribution across the herd, was also discussed during the episode.

Sustainable Breeding Summit

Dairy farmer Michael Ryan began the discussion by speaking about using an even team of bulls and distribution.

Using his herd as an example, Michael said that 17 sires are used in his herd meaning that at most, one sire will have three to four heifer calves.

“It is important that you don’t fall in love with a particular sire, have a good even team. You should also try and avoid bulls bred by the same sire,” he said.

“Every year a bull produces a number of new bulls to AI [artificial insemination], but it is important to only use one or two of them to spread the risk.”

George Ramsbottom from Teagasc added that: “On any individual farm nationally, up to a third of dairy calves born come from the same sire, but is too much of a risk”

He reminded farmers that for a 100-cow herd at least seven bulls should be used; this increases to 14 for a 200-cow herd.

Research

Eoin McCarthy spoke about the research he completed on bulls before they are selected for use on his farm.

“We would look into the bulls and know who the mother and father are,” he said.

“We would also pick about 10 bulls and not have more than two from the same sire, which insolates our risk.

“We run the sire advice programme which puts the high-index milk bull with the low-index milk cow, giving you a very balanced herd.

“You don’t want too much of one bull on your farm to stop your breeding decisions in the future.”

Breeding

When asked about his role as a breeding advisor matching cows and sires, along with ensuring that farmers spread the risk, Seamus Hughes from Progression Genetics said: “I think it’s part of our role as a breeding organisation and this is why the fresh programme is so attractive.

“There are 12 bulls on the fresh programme and they are changed everyday. The farmers, unknown to themselves, are using a wide range of sires, spreading their risk.”

Seamus Hughes

Continuing, Seamus said: “A lot of guys don’t have the technical expertise or time to select bulls, so we do it for them.

“We pick the bulls on the fresh programme and we do all the sire advice for them. The key about sire advice for me, and I agree with Eoin in terms of matching cows and bulls based on production, [but] the key thing for me is in breeding.”

“If farmers use the fresh programme and sire advice, they will breed a hell of a profitable herd of cows.”

Michael Ryan added: “That means the only thing that the farmer has to do is pick the cows he want replacements from.”