A two week placement with cattle genetics specialists - Genus ABS

This week I travelled to Nantwich, Cheshire, UK where I started my two week placement with the renowned cattle genetics specialists, Genus ABS.

Genus ABS is an international company that specializes in the area of bovine genetics and reproductive services.

Genus ABS have sourced some of the most well known AI bulls in the world such as PicstonShottle (who sold over 1 million units of semen), Nightingale Ploughman and Lakemead Rancher to name a few.

They offer a vast array of top quality beef and dairy bulls to suit a wide range of farming systems worldwide.

I was thrilled to secure a work placement opportunity with such an established company and I was particularly excited to work abroad.

My British adventure began last Monday when I arrived at the company’s head office in Nantwich.

After brief introductions to the team, I was given an opportunity to sit in on meetings with both the beef and dairy development teams.

This was an eye-opening experience and I was amazed at the longevity of their planning, which has to be years in advance.

I also helped out with some of the administration work in the main office, e.g. updating figures, dealing with correspondence, labelling envelopes etc.

Experience outside the office

It wasn’t all office work though, as I also got the chance to travel with a breeding advisor at Genus ABS, Frank Dixon, to visit some dairy herds in the area.

I visited some tremendous Holstein herds around Shropshire and I particularly enjoyed my visit to the farm of Ed Seaton, owner of Styche Holsteins.

Ed milks 285 cows three times a day and the cows are housed all year round. It is a totally different enterprise compared to the Irish spring calving system which is the norm over here.

His cows were very impressive and were averaging 11,200 litres a year per cow, which is tremendous production considering they never see a field in their lives!

One of the highlights of my trip was undoubtedly the opportunity to visit two very renowned Friesians herds with Bill Foster. Coming from a British Friesian herd background myself it was amazing to actually visit some of the herds that have produced AI bulls that we use back home.

I visited the Collycroft Herd of the Archer Family where the AI bull YFF comes from. The herd had some very high volume cows, with some milk yields of up to 13,000kgs recorded - which would be almost unheard of for a non-Holstein cow. Definitely something to try to aim for on our farm at home!!

I also visited the famous Deangate herd, which was a real treat as the herd has produced many bulls for Genus in the past such as DeangateTarquin, Consul, Centurion and Quentin.

I was so impressed with all the cows here – they were absolutely outstanding. I was also treated to some very impressive British hospitality during each of my farm visits and I really enjoyed sampling some of the famous British cuisine!

Next week I travel to Ruthin in Wales and then on to Whenby in Yorkshire where the bull stud is located. I will be helping out in the lab and assisting in their monthly herd health checks. This will give me a more technical view of the company and an insight into the day to day running of an International AI company which I will tell you all about next week!

Susan Dudley is a third year student, currently completely a degree in Agricultural Science in University College Dublin. As part of her studies, she must undertake a number of professional work placements over the course of 20 weeks