ICBF recently passed an important milestone with over 2 million cattle having a valid genotype. It only seems like yesterday that we were reporting on passing the 1 million genotype milestone in 2017. This represents an increase of 1 million valid genotypes in less than 3 years. (more…)
Recent analysis carried out by ICBF has shown that carcass performance for suckler bred animals between 2015-2019 has seen a slight increase in carcass weight, with conformation remaining the same. (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…)
The number of HerdPlus members that used the Sire Advice application has increased from 2,654 herds in 2019 to 3,095 herds in 2020, an increase of 17% (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…)