Genetic progress boosts fertility

INFERTILITY in their cows costs Irish dairy farmers between 5 and 7 cent per litre of milk, according to Teagasc experts.

Delegates at next week’s World Holstein Friesian Federation Conference and Show in Killarney and Millstreet will hear how 10 years of genetic progress here have arrested the decline in fertility, attributed to use of the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) in which fertility gets 37% of the weighting in EBI ratings for bulls and cows.

But major infertility costs, often hidden, continue to plague dairy farmers in all countries, and the topic will take up most of the morning session on the second day of the conference next Friday in Killarney.