Health event recording helps to improve the reliability of the health and management traits of both the dairy and beef national herd. The continued recording of these traits will better place the Irish dairy and beef sectors to select the next generation of high health, easy management AI sires which will ultimately leave more profit for Irish farmers in the future.
The number of health event records being recorded on the ICBF database has almost doubled over the past two years. In 2018, there was a total of 75,942 health stats recorded for the year. In 2020, the number of records recorded in the year rose to 141,083 representing a 86% increase in additional records each year. The table below shows just some examples of this increase across each health event. Click the image below to view full table.
Lameness and Mastitis
Important health traits such as Lameness and Mastitis have seen big increases in the number of records being recorded. In 2018, there were 4,926 lameness records recorded. By 2020, there was some 11,635 records being recorded for the year. Mastitis recording is also on the increase with 23,489 records recorded in 2018. The level of recording stood at 39,309 records/year by 2020.
Continued Improvement Important
It is important that farmers continue to record this valuable data so that it can be factored into future genetic evaluations. There is lots of valuable health data locked away in farmer notebooks and unless it’s recorded in the ICBF database, it cannot be factored into future evaluations. For example, the total cost of every case of lameness is estimated at €300 once treatment costs and loss of production are all taken into account. These are significant losses in profit which could otherwise be going to farmers if addressed.
Health data can be recorded under the ‘Record Events’ section in your ICBF/HerdPlus account. If you already recording health data, thank you for making a difference!