Munster Bovine successfully hosted its Driving Genetic Progress: Farmer & Industry Perspectives event at Corrin Mart, bringing together dairy farmers, industry leaders, and key stakeholders from across the sector for a morning of discussion, insight, and collaboration.

The well-attended event focused on the future of dairy breeding, with particular emphasis on genetics, fertility, and the role of emerging technologies in driving on-farm performance. Attendees had the opportunity to hear directly from both industry experts and progressive farmers, offering a balanced perspective on current challenges and opportunities within the Irish dairy sector.

The event featured two panel discussions facilitated by Munster Bovine CEO, Martin Kavanagh. The first panel delivered practical, on the ground insights into managing breeding and fertility, combining technical advice with lived farmer experience. Attendees listened to contributions from Dennis Howard (Technical Manager, Munster Bovine) and Ben Slee (AI Technician, Munster Bovine), Billy Heffernan (Sales Manager, MSD Animal Health) and dairy farmer Sean Moher from Mitchelstown, Co. Cork. 

The key messages from this panel were;

• Make sure the cows and maidens are fit for the breeding season, clean, cycling, and in the right body condition. Onca a day milking and feeding to their energy requirement is critical to high submission and conception rates.
• When using sexed semen pick more cows than straws bought as some cows will appear for AI at the wrong time for sexed - if in doubt on the timing, use conventional semen. Basic rule of thumb for sexed, if the cow is fresh on in the morning, she is ready for sexed that evening and if fresh on in the evening, she's ready the following morning (12-20 hours after the start of standing heat).
• When using conventional dairy semen only you need 5 straws to get a heifer in the parlour - remember that 18% of dairy heifers born in the country never calve down. 
• Heat detection technology such as collars is a trusted technology that saves labour particularly when used with automatic drafting.
• Know the cows that have not come bulling by 35 days after calving, treat them as soon as possible to ensure they are submitted for service in the first 24 days of the season.
• Arrange well in advance of the season with your AI tech: 
  •    The bull choice in the pot
  •    How they can facilitate timing of the call (note this year: with cost of fuel to prearrange or call early to allow the technician to be as efficient as possible with their route so they don't have to double back) 
  •    Prearrange all synchronisation jobs
  •    Ensure washing, disinfection and safe facilities for the Technician so they can do the job efficiently and safely. (Scatter some sand on smooth yard surfaces to stop animals slipping and falling when being turned or standing in crushes)

The second panel brought together leading experts in genetics and research, including Dr. Doreen Corridan (CEO, NCBC), Sean Coughlan (CEO, ICBF), Joe Patton (Teagasc), and Donagh Berry (Teagasc). This session looked at how genetic progress is delivering real gains at farm level, with strong evidence supporting the role of EBI and AI in improving milk solids production. The discussion also addressed the increasing importance of collaboration across the industry to ensure a sustainable pipeline of elite dairy genetics for the future.

The key takeaways from this panel were as follows:

• EBI has delivered for the farmer and the industry. 
• The 100 cow herd in the top 20% of EBI sells €30,000 more milk solids than the 100 cow herd with the national average EBI.
• AI bred herds sell ~50kgs more milk solids per cow than non-AI bred herds.
• Increasing the genetics for Milk solids will increase milk production in all herds, however, herds with the exact same genetics for milk solids production will vary in output by ~200 kgs of milk solids per cow depending on the environment the cows are in. The environment is influenced by grass quantity and quality, feed quantity and quality, health, weather and overall management. Cow size is not a limiting factor to milk solids yield.
• There are less black and white calves born now than in previous years due to a combination of sexed semen and the increased use of dairy beef bulls. Therefore, there are less dairy male calves born overall. There are less elite bull calves to choose from for national breeding programmes to increase the rate of genetic gain. Finding enough dairy bulls to put into Irish bull studs for AI is a numbers game - the more of our elite cows that are bred to conventional AI (not sexed) the more chances there are of finding the next superstars. This is why it is so important that farmers respond to 'contracts' from AI companies to selectively breed a small number of their cows to selected matings. A 'contract' does not create ownership - it allows the AI company visibility of the calf's genetics when its born so they can offer to purchase it if it makes the grade. There are less than 200 dairy bull calves bought every year for bull studs, so the chances are low but without these contract matings the risk is that there won't be enough bulls to select from.  Breeding technologies such as embryo transfer and IVF can be used but are expensive and difficult to develop at enough scale so must run in parallel with 'contract' matings. The future of genetic gain is dependent on collaboration between us all.
• NCBC dairy beef teams are designed to complement sexed semen strategies, deliver high-value dairy beef calves and give farmers access to elite, proven sires.

Speaking at the event, Martin Kavanagh highlighted the importance of collaboration across the industry:
“Events like this are vital in bringing farmers and industry together to share knowledge and experiences. Genetic progress is central to the sustainability and profitability of our dairy sector, and open discussion is key to driving that progress forward.”

In addition to the panel discussions, attendees engaged with a range of industry organisations exhibiting on the day, including Dairygold, MSD Animal Health, Teagasc, Warrendale Wagyu Ireland, ICBF, Boehringer Ingelheim, Agri Aware and Dairy Women Ireland. 

Munster Bovine would like to thank all speakers, exhibitors, and attendees for contributing to a highly successful and informative event.