Munster-Progressive merger sealed

SCALE, focus and efficiency in proving, housing, and harvesting dairy and beef bulls in Ireland has been promised by Tom Corcoran, Chairman of the new National Cattle Breeding Centre.

The Centre was established in February by the merger of the Munster Cattle Breeding Society and Progressive Genetics Ireland Ltd.

The new organisation is based at Enfield, Co Meath where the bulls will be housed.

The existing AI field and sales services of both organisations will continue to operate.

The Board of the National Cattle Breeding Centre this week announced the appointment of Bernard Eivers as Chief Executive Officer.

A vet, Mr Eivers has for the past 10 years been Technical Director of Progressive Genetics Ireland Ltd, where his responsibilities included the development of dairy and beef breeding programmes and the management of the company’s bull stud at Enfield.

He said the Centre will work very closely with farmers, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation and Teagasc to ensure delivery of optimal genetics for Irish farming conditions, and to ensure that the bulls graduating from the programmes will breed stock that give Irish farmers a competitive edge in the market.

Before joining Progressive Genetics in 1995, Mr Eivers worked with the Dublin District Milk Board as Veterinary Officer, and was Veterinary Advisor to Franklin Pharmaceuticals of Trim, Co. Meath. Before that, he managed a busy large and small animal veterinary practice, with special interest in dairy herd fertility, in Co Meath.

In 1992 he was awarded a Masters in Applied Science for Food Science (First Class Honours) by University College Dublin for his thesis, a proposal for a business model for an artificial insemination service company in Ireland.