Around 400 farmers attended the ICBF Beef Breeding Event at Tully last Saturday, 12th October.
It featured three main stands covering information on the Gene Ireland Maternal Breeding program, Profitability using Euro-Star Indexes and the Gene Ireland progeny test program at Tully. There was also an information area updating farmers on developments in ICBF weight recording service and HerdPlus. As part of the information area farmers could also avail of breeding advice from AI companies and Herdbooks. They could also sign up to be involved in the G€N€ IR€LAND maternal and progeny test programs.
217 progeny (mainly sired by Gene Ireland bulls) were on display at the event, made up of 163 bulls and 54 steers. They progeny were in four separate groups which consisted of animals currently on-test (130 progeny) and a new intake of bulls which is due to commence test shortly (87 bulls). These animals had individual performance and parentage information displayed which created a lot of interest and discussion among farmers.
Performance information displayed for the bulls currently on-test consisted of average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed efficiency, current live-weight along with scanned muscle and fat depth. Overall the event was successful in fulfilling its objective, which was to update farmers on the latest developments in beef breeding that will allow for much greater rates of genetic improvement in Irish beef production and thus increase profitability on farms.
Tully manager, Stephen Conroy, would like to thank all those who contributed (ICBF staff, Herdbooks, AI companies and farmers) to making the event a success.
See below for photos of the event.
