Precision breeding: Sexed semen and strict selection shape Dermot's AI plan
I have picked out 30 cows for sexed semen. Cows ideally had to be calved more than 42 days and had one heat prior, no issues at calving such as milk fever or retained cleanings. These cows also had to have gone in calf to one previous straw in the previous lactation. The cows receiving sexed semen were inseminated on natural heat.
The bulls were picked on high EBI, positive for health, milk sub index greater than €90, milk solids over 30kg, and these bulls also need to have strong percentages for fat and protein, ideally above 0.2 for fat and 0.15 for protein.
I have another group of cows picked for Friesian, but these cows will only get Gene Ireland bulls.
The remainder of the cows are going to get beef straws. I am using Angus, Aubrac, Hereford, Limousin and Charolais. It is all AI with the cows. I don't use any stock bull.
I am currently on week two of breeding. Heats are very strong with the herd. I tail-painted all the herd a month before breeding. Fifteen cows were identified as not bulling when I tail painted them. The vet handled these cows on the first day of breeding.
Of the 15 cows, eight were fine and seven were put on a fixed-time AI program. These seven cows were inseminated with beef straws. These seven cows were not active, and I followed the vet's advice and gave them fixed-time AI.
My breeding packs are 25 Friesian Gene Ireland sires, two Gene Ireland beef sires. I have 20 heifers and 30 cows getting sexed semen. The remainder and the repeats will be getting the Ballyvaden beef pack.
The weekly fertility report in HerdPlus on ICBF is showing that I am on target with my submission rate of 30% for the week. I will run this weekly to monitor progress.
Heifers
I have 38 bulling heifers. They go to the contract-rearer. I pick out the best 20 heifers. These are synchronised and given sexed semen. The other 18 are in a separate group, and they are running with a stock bull. These 18 bulling heifers will be sold. These 18 heifers are kept so the contract rearer has enough stock for his farm.
The heifers have been out to grass for five weeks before breeding. Compared to this time last year, the heifers were only out at grass for a week before breeding started. In three weeks' time, I will watch for repeats with the heifers, and I will AI with the bull.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
27-06-2025
- Irish Examiner
From cow to cone: Cork ice-cream maker makes a taste of the Good life
THE SUN can be splitting the stones, or it could be a grey, drizzly day: come summertime, we all scream for ice cream, and some, particularly the under-10s, louder than others. There's nothing quite like walking along a beach at sunset while tackling a scoop of vanilla or grabbing a gelato to cool kids and parents down on a day in the city. It's not a health food, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't deserve an occasional place in your diet. Yet ice cream is one of the foods that author and TV presenter Chris van Tulleken focuses on in his 2023 book Ultra-Processed People, using it as an example to explain many of the issues with ultra-processed foods, where high proportions of ingredients are added to stabilise a perishable product and cut costs. Some of these ingredients include palm oil, coconut oil, and glucose syrup, not exactly what you're expecting to find in your scoop of vanilla. People want to enjoy ice cream, but they also want to know what's in it. 'We use 75% of our own milk and cream,' says Catherine Good of The Good Dairy Company, who hand makes her ice cream in small batches on the family dairy farm in Nohoval, Co Cork. 'But you also have to have some emulsifiers and stabilisers in there and that's what people don't understand.' Naturally derived additives like guar gum, carrageenan, and locust bean gum are used to give ice cream a smoother texture. Good lives with her husband Tom and their four children — Jack (17), Eimear (15), Robert (12), and Clara (10) — on the farm that has been in Tom's family for generations. When she was developing her recipe, after taking an ice cream science and technology course at UCC and travelling to Sicily to study ice cream making, she started with one simple ingredient: Milk. 'We're dairy farmers here, and we're surrounded by beaches, rocky bays, and mountains. I was inspired by our coastal location and day-to-day farming life. I had the raw material here on the farm, and I knew that Tom did it right.' Catherine Good: 'We're dairy farmers here, and we're surrounded by beaches, rocky bays, and mountains. I was inspired by our coastal location and day-to-day farming life. I had the raw material here on the farm, and I knew that Tom did it right.' Picture Dan Linehan Keenly aware of the work that Tom put into his herd of award-winning pedigree Friesian dairy cows, Good — with a background in business and marketing — had an interest in adding value to the quality milk that was coming out of the parlour. She enrolled in the Exxcel programme for female entrepreneurs at MTU and set to work on a business plan. Although Ireland has a global reputation for producing superb dairy from grass-fed cows, Good was surprised to discover that supermarket freezers were mostly filled with imported ice cream. She wanted to make ice cream that was as natural as possible. 'I sourced a natural emulsifier and stabiliser, because you need them in your ice cream. People get carried away about stabilisers, but the amount of it that I actually put into my overall mix is tiny.' Good launched in August 2021, initially bringing her mobile pink, white, and black ice cream pod to her local beach and farmers' markets. Even in that short season, she could see that the demand was there for a fresh, locally produced ice cream. With the help of her local enterprise board, she set up a small production facility on the family farm. There are no food miles here, just steps. 'I go and collect milk from the tank, bring it up [to the production unit], pasteurise it, and make the ice cream in six-litre batches.' Through her involvement with the SuperValu Food Academy in 2022, Grow with Aldi (2023), and Lidl Kickstarter (2024) programmes, Good's ice cream — each of the 360ml tubs hand-filled and hand-labelled — has made it into supermarket freezers across the country. It is still available in selected SuperValu outlets, other independent retail shops and, since April, at Good's own The Good Dairy Company ice cream shop in Kinsale. 'I wanted to take it to the next level, and Kinsale is known for its food. Our ice cream is a farm-to-fork product, with the cows roaming just 10 minutes out the road. I tell customers, if you're off out to Nohoval Cove, you'll probably see the cows on the left.' Good prides herself on the freshness of the ice cream. 'My production facility is very small here on the farm, and everything is made fresh. I organise my production days so that the stock goes straight to the shop that week.' The proof is in the tasting, and her flagship Udderly Vanilla variety is deliciously rich and full of flavour. As an occasional treat, this small batch, locally made ice cream, produced on the family farm using a high proportion of creamy milk from Cork pastures, is a winner. Buying local: fresh ice cream from Irish farms Boulabán Farm, Co Tipperary: Located between Roscrea and Templemore, Michael and Kate Cantwell started making ice cream from the milk of their Holstein-Friesian cows in 2006. While they primarily supply hotels and restaurants, they also operate a click-and-collect service from the farm for ice cream orders, available in small 125ml tubs and large 2.5l cartons. Baldwin's Farmhouse Ice Cream, Co Waterford: Inspired by a trip to the Netherlands, Thomas Baldwin started his business in 2007. He uses crème anglaise method, combining fresh milk from the family herd with free-range egg yolks, sugar, and ingredients like strawberries from Dungarvan's Glen Fruits. The ice cream is made on the farm near Knockanore, and is widely available in Cork and Waterford. Glastry Farm, Co Down: William and Cynthia Taylor started producing ice cream on the Ards Peninsula in 2007 using milk from the family farm, which is now run by their son Gareth and his wife Liz. They make about 17 flavours of ice cream, including local variations such as Yellowman Honeycomb and St Brendan's Irish Cream. Stocked at a variety of locations in Northern Ireland and Dublin. Muckross Creamery, Co Kerry: Just outside Killarney, dairy farmer John Fleming offers cow to cone tours (€28) on the family farm. Showcasing the cows and the land where the milk comes from, the milking parlour, and production space, there's also the opportunity to try a scoop at the on-site ice cream parlour. Muckross Creamery also takes ice cream to events in a repurposed horse box: just watch out for the queues. Linnalla Ice Cream, Co Clare: Brid Fahy has been using milk from the native Burren shorthorn cows farmed by her husband, Roger, along with local ingredients like blackcurrants and wild hazelnuts, to make ice cream since 2006. It's available in Cafe Linnalla, the ice cream parlour which they built on their farm. Located in the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark, they are part of the Burren Ecotourism Network, a network of sustainable tourism businesses, and also offer farm tours. Make it yourself The simplest homemade ice cream recipe only requires a freezer and two basic ingredients: one (397g) tin of sweetened condensed milk and 500ml of cream. Whip the two together until soft peaks form, then pour into a clean, empty ice cream tub and freeze for a minimum of four hours or overnight. Before freezing, add vanilla extract for a classic flavour, chopped chocolate for a chocolate chip variation, or swirl through raspberry puree for a raspberry ripple. It really is that easy.
Agriland
16-05-2025
- Agriland
ICOS: Trends in dairy herd replacements a ‘serious wake-up call'
The Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) has described the data on dairy herd replacements as a serious 'wake-up call'. The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) data was presented to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Calf Welfare Shareholder meeting held this week. The number of dairy female calf registrations is down by 12.5% in 2025, when compared to 2024 figures. In addition, the number of first calved heifers has declined by by 9.5% year-on-year. This combination of a sharp decline in both dairy female calves and first-calved heifers suggests that the market for dairy heifers is likely to be very strong over the next few years. Dairy herd replacements In a press release, the ICOS said: 'In the very near future, the number of dairy replacements will not be enough to sustain the dairy herd at present levels.' With the breeding season in full flow, ICOS is encouraging all farmers to 'seek appropriate advice and to consider using the optimal level of dairy artificial insemination (AI) this year to ensure they are breeding sufficient replacements for their herds'. The society is also encouraging farmers to be mindful of the rising incidence levels of bovine tuberculosis (TB) by selecting for TB resistance as part of their breeding policy. ICOS believes the data presented by the ICBF needs to act as a 'serious wake-up call' to the government. 'There is an urgent need to bring certainty to the sector by retaining the Nitrates Derogation and to bring forward immediate policies to address the challenge of generational renewal in the sector,' the society said. ICOS also believe that these stark figures are an added warning to the drop in cow numbers in the coming years, so all steps need to be taken to reduce incidence rates of bovine TB. ICOS ICOS represents co-operatives across Ireland, including dairy processing co-operatives and livestock marts. These organisations collectively generate approximately €16 billion in turnover, with 175,000 members and employment for 12,000 individuals in Ireland, plus an additional 24,000 overseas. In total, Ireland has around 1,000 co-ops, with the largest 100 employing roughly 40,000 people.
Irish Examiner
09-05-2025
- Irish Examiner
Precision breeding: Sexed semen and strict selection shape Dermot's AI plan
I started breeding on April 28. I am doing selective breeding. Cows were picked out using the female selector in Sire Advice on ICBF. Cows selected with high EBI, positive for health, above 0.15 for fat and above 0.1 for protein PD. These cows will get sexed semen. I have picked out 30 cows for sexed semen. Cows ideally had to be calved more than 42 days and had one heat prior, no issues at calving such as milk fever or retained cleanings. These cows also had to have gone in calf to one previous straw in the previous lactation. The cows receiving sexed semen were inseminated on natural heat. The bulls were picked on high EBI, positive for health, milk sub index greater than €90, milk solids over 30kg, and these bulls also need to have strong percentages for fat and protein, ideally above 0.2 for fat and 0.15 for protein. I have another group of cows picked for Friesian, but these cows will only get Gene Ireland bulls. The remainder of the cows are going to get beef straws. I am using Angus, Aubrac, Hereford, Limousin and Charolais. It is all AI with the cows. I don't use any stock bull. I am currently on week two of breeding. Heats are very strong with the herd. I tail-painted all the herd a month before breeding. Fifteen cows were identified as not bulling when I tail painted them. The vet handled these cows on the first day of breeding. Of the 15 cows, eight were fine and seven were put on a fixed-time AI program. These seven cows were inseminated with beef straws. These seven cows were not active, and I followed the vet's advice and gave them fixed-time AI. My breeding packs are 25 Friesian Gene Ireland sires, two Gene Ireland beef sires. I have 20 heifers and 30 cows getting sexed semen. The remainder and the repeats will be getting the Ballyvaden beef pack. The weekly fertility report in HerdPlus on ICBF is showing that I am on target with my submission rate of 30% for the week. I will run this weekly to monitor progress. Heifers I have 38 bulling heifers. They go to the contract-rearer. I pick out the best 20 heifers. These are synchronised and given sexed semen. The other 18 are in a separate group, and they are running with a stock bull. These 18 bulling heifers will be sold. These 18 heifers are kept so the contract rearer has enough stock for his farm. The heifers have been out to grass for five weeks before breeding. Compared to this time last year, the heifers were only out at grass for a week before breeding started. In three weeks' time, I will watch for repeats with the heifers, and I will AI with the bull.
