May 21st, 2020: Late last week, ICBF announced the passing of another significant milestone with over 2 million cattle in Ireland having a valid genotype, an increase of 1 million in just 3 years. (more…)
Why do proofs change and does the extent of change vary depending on the type of proof for the bull? To answer these questions ICBF examined bull proofs from 1901 AI sires born over the 20-year period 1995 to 2014. (more…)
This is clear from the results of analysis carried out by Teagasc on the data collected as part of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (BEEP) in 2019. (more…)
A common misconception is that breeding should not be pursued as a method for improving health or fertility traits due to their low heritability. Low heritability does not mean the trait cannot be improved. Low heritability simply signifies that much more records are required to achieve the same rate of genetic gain as high heritability trait (e.g., carcass weight or milk yield). (more…)
One of the popular myths presented at this time of the year, is that proofs for young genomic AI bulls don’t stack up and that as a result, farmers would be better to stick to using daughter proven or even stock bulls when breeding dairy female replacements. (more…)
With the breeding season just about to start, ICBF HerdPlus have just undertaken an analysis of births from the dairy herd for the year to date, broken down by breed (more…)
Pat Donnellan, ICBF talks through the ICBF Dairy Active Bull List for Spring 2020. (more…)
What is the rate of gain in EBI? How does this differ for different categories of animals? Dr. Andrew Cromie, ICBF takes a look at the latest genetic trends in EBI. (more…)
