The ICBF & Sheep Ireland Genetics Conference will take place on Friday 17th of January 2020 in the Heritage Hotel, Killenard, Co. Laois. This event will comprise of split Dairy, Beef and Sheep sessions in the morning, with the FBD €uroStar €200 competition awards being presented during lunch. The conference will then host a Panel Discussion, led by our Key Note Speaker Senator Ian Marshall. Social license, environmental impact and the consumer will be the hot topics for discussion on the day.

This year the Conference theme is “Breeding Solutions for today’s Challenges”.

Key Updates in Breeding Indexes

In response to new challenges within the industry of animal breeding in Ireland ICBF & Sheep Ireland have several new developments which will be discussed at this year’s conference. Teagasc, Sheep Ireland and ICBF researchers will outline proposed solutions to the challenges that are facing the industry today.

Topics include:

  • New Calving Evaluations for Beef & Dairy
  • Updates to the maintenance figure in EBI
  • Meat Eating Quality Indexes
  • Beef’s Own Worth
  • DNA Based Calf Registration
  • Multibreed Dairy Genomics

Speakers include:

  • Dr Ross Evans, ICBF Lead Geneticist
  • Dr Alan Twomey, Teagasc Moorepark
  • Dr Andrew Cromie, ICBF Technical Director
  • Dr Noirin McHugh, Beef & Sheep Geneticist Teagasc
  • Dr Margaret Kelleher, ICBF Geneticist

Click here to view the full list of speakers

FBD €urostar €200 Competition

Following the morning sessions there will be a poster session with updates from PhD students studying genetics of cattle and sheep. Lunch will coincide with the awards ceremony of the FBD €urostar €200 competition. Herd owners will be rewarded for excellence within their sectors being; Commercial Suckler Beef, Pedigree Beef Breeding, Dairy Production or Pedigree Sheep Breeding. More details on shortlisted herds will be published shortly within The Irish Farmer’s Journal, The ICBF and Sheep Ireland websites.

Afternoon Panel Discussion ‘’Social License-Working with the consumer to tackle today’s challenges’’

After lunch the conference will then host a Panel Discussion. Our Key Note Speaker Senator Ian Marshall will use his own perspective to discuss Social license, environmental impact and how these matters effect the consumers buying decisions. Also partaking in the panel discussion will be Prof Donagh Berry (Teagasc), Sean Coughlan (CEO of ICBF) and James Murphy Chairman of Sheep Ireland.

Tickets are available for purchase here

More details to follow in the new year.