I came across a book in an old house at the weekend, documenting cows being brought to a Shorthorn bull that was resident on the farm. The book recorded the date, the name of the cow, the name of the owner and most important of all, whether they paid or not.
The dates were all in the 1940s and talking to locals, this was a regular occurrence during the first half of the 20th century. One farm would keep a good Shorthorn or Hereford bull and people in the area would bring cows to the bull and pay a service fee to use it. It may seem like torture, walking cows distances to neighbour’s bulls, but I am assured that cattle were a lot quieter back then, having been tied in byre set ups during winter and milked by hand.
Genetic progress is slow but accumulative, and over time, our industry has embraced the changing market requirements and altered breeding programmes
I pondered what those farmers would think if they were in the yard today and heard people talking about genomics, indexes and stars. I know there are some who will argue about what progress has been made, but we have come a long way in the last 70 years in terms of cattle breeding. Cattle shapes and sizes have been transformed during that time and today’s animals in every breed have better growth rates and kill out percentages compared to their counterparts 70 years ago. Genetic progress is slow but accumulative, and over time, our industry has embraced the changing market requirements and altered breeding programmes to reflect these changes.
Artificial Insemination
Artificial insemination has been revolutionary in terms of making genetic progress. A bull who enters an AI stud can now sire thousands of calves in their lifetime. AI has also opened up the use of elite bulls to smaller breeders. Bulls destined for AI can often make in excess of €10,000, putting them out of reach of many small commercial farmers. These bulls are made available through AI at a charge of €20/insemination. The rate of AI use has seen a better uptake in dairy herds compared to beef herds. The current rate of AI usage in dairy herds is running around 40%, while in beef herds this figure is closer to 18%. Challenges with smaller, part-time farms and less infrastructure for AI around some of these farms has led to a slower uptake on beef farms.
Difficult marriage
Applying science to breeding has been a difficult marriage for both. We only have to look back at the launch of the beef data and genomics programme (BDGP) in 2015, when ICBF and the Department of Agriculture came in for some heavy criticism for their introduction of the programme. “No scientist will tell me how to breed my cattle” was heard more than once around the country and the passion with which people take their cattle breeding was clear. However, the scheme prevailed, along with the science and progress made. Cattle breeding isn’t an exact science and it will always be a combination of the eye along with the science of genetics. People will always disagree, and as they say: “Doctors differ and patients die.”
ICBF Database
And genomics is here to stay. There are now over 2m genotypes in the national database and counting. ICBF now have the largest beef genomics database in the world, with almost 100bn single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs – pronounced ‘snips’). SNPs are the most common form of genetic variation between animals. Over the years, farmers have been data recording animal events on their farms, like weights, calving difficulty, etc and the ICBF database now has 1.1bn pieces of information stored on the database. In the era defined by harnessing the power of huge amounts of data, this puts Irish farmers in a very strong position in making informed decisions on breeding direction in the future. The database is the envy of many animal breeders around the world and the fact that ICBF has access to data from other organisations means it can put together information to ascertain the genetic potential of animals.
The future
Recently, pedigree breed societies have commenced screening bulls for myostatin genes. With planned breeding, there is huge potential to capitalise on genes that could increase the meat yield of animals, while maintaining easy calving characteristics. At the moment, genetic indexes include genomic data and phenotypic, or performance data like weights, calving intervals, conformation, calving difficulties etc.
The next step is to include meat eating quality data and animal health data, like resistance to TB and liver fluke. Breeding synchronisation has also become more popular in recent years and could play a role in increasing AI usage on farms
Careers
There are many career opportunities within the cattle breeding industry. ICBF currently employs geneticists, data analysists, software developers and agricultural graduates for many roles within the organisation. AI companies also take on agricultural graduates for sales positions, breeding advisors, lab technicians and breeding programme managers. Some AI companies run graduate programmes, where graduates are taken on and work in a few different aspects of the business as part of the training programme. Hundreds of AI technicians are employed by these companies. This job usually suits part-time farmers who can work the AI calls around their farming day. An agricultural degree or science degree is a good first step if you want to pursue a career in animal breeding.
ICBF: Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, the body responsible for Ireland’s genetic database. The organisation is governed by a board of directors from the farm organisations, AI companies, breed societies and the Department of Agriculture. AI: Artificial Insemination is the technique of placing semen from the male into the reproductive tract of the female by means other than natural service.ICBF database: The ICBF database now includes billions of pieces of information on animals. This data is then pooled together and relationships are formed that enable ICBF to publish predicted breeding values for animals. These breeding values or indexes can be used by farmers to make informed breeding decisions on their farms.Genomics: Genomics is the study of an animal’s DNA, which is usually taken from a tissue ear tag or a hair sample. Genomics can be used to confirm parentage and can also speed up genetic progress, as relationships can be identified between animals, meaning you don’t have to wait until animals are slaughtered to determine how good the sire is.Sexed semen: This is where semen is altered and either made female sexed or male sexed. This has huge potential in the dairy industry, where, for example, cows would only need be bred to Holstein Friesian for a short amount of time when using sexed female semen. This would then mean that higher value beef semen could be used on the remainder of the herd.
I came across a book in an old house at the weekend, documenting cows being brought to a Shorthorn bull that was resident on the farm. The book recorded the date, the name of the cow, the name of the owner and most important of all, whether they paid or not.
The dates were all in the 1940s and talking to locals, this was a regular occurrence during the first half of the 20th century. One farm would keep a good Shorthorn or Hereford bull and people in the area would bring cows to the bull and pay a service fee to use it. It may seem like torture, walking cows distances to neighbour’s bulls, but I am assured that cattle were a lot quieter back then, having been tied in byre set ups during winter and milked by hand.
Genetic progress is slow but accumulative, and over time, our industry has embraced the changing market requirements and altered breeding programmes
I pondered what those farmers would think if they were in the yard today and heard people talking about genomics, indexes and stars. I know there are some who will argue about what progress has been made, but we have come a long way in the last 70 years in terms of cattle breeding. Cattle shapes and sizes have been transformed during that time and today’s animals in every breed have better growth rates and kill out percentages compared to their counterparts 70 years ago. Genetic progress is slow but accumulative, and over time, our industry has embraced the changing market requirements and altered breeding programmes to reflect these changes.
Artificial Insemination
Artificial insemination has been revolutionary in terms of making genetic progress. A bull who enters an AI stud can now sire thousands of calves in their lifetime. AI has also opened up the use of elite bulls to smaller breeders. Bulls destined for AI can often make in excess of €10,000, putting them out of reach of many small commercial farmers. These bulls are made available through AI at a charge of €20/insemination. The rate of AI use has seen a better uptake in dairy herds compared to beef herds. The current rate of AI usage in dairy herds is running around 40%, while in beef herds this figure is closer to 18%. Challenges with smaller, part-time farms and less infrastructure for AI around some of these farms has led to a slower uptake on beef farms.
Difficult marriage
Applying science to breeding has been a difficult marriage for both. We only have to look back at the launch of the beef data and genomics programme (BDGP) in 2015, when ICBF and the Department of Agriculture came in for some heavy criticism for their introduction of the programme. “No scientist will tell me how to breed my cattle” was heard more than once around the country and the passion with which people take their cattle breeding was clear. However, the scheme prevailed, along with the science and progress made. Cattle breeding isn’t an exact science and it will always be a combination of the eye along with the science of genetics. People will always disagree, and as they say: “Doctors differ and patients die.”
ICBF Database
And genomics is here to stay. There are now over 2m genotypes in the national database and counting. ICBF now have the largest beef genomics database in the world, with almost 100bn single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs – pronounced ‘snips’). SNPs are the most common form of genetic variation between animals. Over the years, farmers have been data recording animal events on their farms, like weights, calving difficulty, etc and the ICBF database now has 1.1bn pieces of information stored on the database. In the era defined by harnessing the power of huge amounts of data, this puts Irish farmers in a very strong position in making informed decisions on breeding direction in the future. The database is the envy of many animal breeders around the world and the fact that ICBF has access to data from other organisations means it can put together information to ascertain the genetic potential of animals.
The future
Recently, pedigree breed societies have commenced screening bulls for myostatin genes. With planned breeding, there is huge potential to capitalise on genes that could increase the meat yield of animals, while maintaining easy calving characteristics. At the moment, genetic indexes include genomic data and phenotypic, or performance data like weights, calving intervals, conformation, calving difficulties etc.
The next step is to include meat eating quality data and animal health data, like resistance to TB and liver fluke. Breeding synchronisation has also become more popular in recent years and could play a role in increasing AI usage on farms
Careers
There are many career opportunities within the cattle breeding industry. ICBF currently employs geneticists, data analysists, software developers and agricultural graduates for many roles within the organisation. AI companies also take on agricultural graduates for sales positions, breeding advisors, lab technicians and breeding programme managers. Some AI companies run graduate programmes, where graduates are taken on and work in a few different aspects of the business as part of the training programme. Hundreds of AI technicians are employed by these companies. This job usually suits part-time farmers who can work the AI calls around their farming day. An agricultural degree or science degree is a good first step if you want to pursue a career in animal breeding.
ICBF: Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, the body responsible for Ireland’s genetic database. The organisation is governed by a board of directors from the farm organisations, AI companies, breed societies and the Department of Agriculture. AI: Artificial Insemination is the technique of placing semen from the male into the reproductive tract of the female by means other than natural service.ICBF database: The ICBF database now includes billions of pieces of information on animals. This data is then pooled together and relationships are formed that enable ICBF to publish predicted breeding values for animals. These breeding values or indexes can be used by farmers to make informed breeding decisions on their farms.Genomics: Genomics is the study of an animal’s DNA, which is usually taken from a tissue ear tag or a hair sample. Genomics can be used to confirm parentage and can also speed up genetic progress, as relationships can be identified between animals, meaning you don’t have to wait until animals are slaughtered to determine how good the sire is.Sexed semen: This is where semen is altered and either made female sexed or male sexed. This has huge potential in the dairy industry, where, for example, cows would only need be bred to Holstein Friesian for a short amount of time when using sexed female semen. This would then mean that higher value beef semen could be used on the remainder of the herd. 
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