Paula Hynes: Fast-tracking genetic gain to improve our herd's sustainability

Rathard FR4513 Alanna

Thankfully, things were a bit more settled this week. Becky was very happy with how her interview went for the Certified Irish Angus Schools Competition, she was asked some technical questions, but had prepared well and was ready with her answers. 

She has grown a lot in confidence in the last few months, having taken part in the Ag Analyses competition at the YMA national championships in July 2022, and I feel the interview process there really stood to her.

Georgie also had a great week in school, receiving the principal award. The principal complemented her "outstanding work and positive attitude" and told her that she was a "world-class farmer and a pleasure to teach" - so, as you can imagine, she came out of school beaming from ear to ear that day.

My eldest, Chloe, has also had a great week - she has an interest in photography, so was delighted to have had her first picture published in the paper. So we have three very happy kids, and two very proud parents this week in the farmhouse.

Genetic gains

Meanwhile, out in the maternity unit, the heifers are calving away nice and steadily, and all are proving themselves to be great moms, while the little ones are full of life and vigour; our dry cow diet includes a grain mix, and the energy stands to them at calving. 

The most amazing thing is how settled they are and love their new roles in the parlour. It’s the first time I've seen heifers wanting to come into the parlour by themselves, they need no encouragement from me - which is one less job!

One heifer is gas - Crystal (as we call her) has taken it upon herself to show the older ladies how it's done and has taken up the number one spot - right at the top of the line for milking.

I have been really drawn to this heifer since they came into the shed for the winter. There was no major reason other than she was a bit different; she is blue and white and was always very curious when I went in to do their cubicles, and I suppose we built a bond.

I didn't take any notice till this week when the new EBI report came out and Becky realized that Crystal was, in fact, a granddaughter of one of my favourite cows, 1256 (also known as Polly). Polly is sadly no longer with us, but her daughter Miss P still is and hearing that now her granddaughter is also making her mark on the farm, really made my day.

Sadly, things don’t always go according to plan, and we did lose a really nice heifer calf with a predicated EBI of 348. She was stillborn.

The heifer must have gotten a knock in the shed, but she is fine and has joined her friends in the parlour.

The new proof run of the EBI was also out this week, we always find it interesting going through it to see how the herd has fared out.

It’s a touchy subject on social media - some people don’t believe in it all, and when it's spoken about, it can lead to quite the debate. 

The economic breeding index is a tool to help drive profitability on dairy farms, here on our farm, after much research, we decided to fully embrace it. 

In 2017, we hosted a farm walk, and our herd EBI was 62, Teagasc set us a target of 120 by 2022. Through embracing genetics our herd EBI is now 176, and genomics has been a key driver of this genetic gain. 

We now have a fourth lactation cow who recently had a nice heifer calf and is now herself 306 EBI. She is our first cow with over 300 EBI in the milking herd, and her EBI has risen every year since she was born, from the Bordica cow family. 

Her dam is the result of sexed semen out of what Pete believes was one of the very best cows he has ever milked. 

She will be joined shortly by a few heifers that are also over 300 EBI, with Pip being 361 EBI, so very excited to see what she will do.

I love cow families - we have a few sets of great-grand dams, grand dams, and daughters and have fantastic longevity in the herd. 

One such family is the Alanna family, Glashnabrack MHR Alanna was a heifer when we bought her in 2014, she is now Ex91 and has an EBI of 278 going onto her ninth lactation.

She has five daughters in the parlour, with one of her daughters Rathard BGJ Alanna classified Ex90, with an EBI of 271. She herself has four daughters in the herd and is now on her sixth lactation, whilst Rathard Alanna won the All-Ireland EBI calf championship for us in 2019.

In 2012, we switched from a stock bull to AI usage, and we were very selective about which cows we bred from and which bulls we used, ultimately, we get paid on fat and protein in our milk price. 

We also genotype all our heifer calves every year to ensure we are breeding our best. To give you an example, our fifth lactation cows are plus 0.08% Fat, 0.05% Protein, looking at the figures for this year's heifers calving down, they are predicted at 0.15% Fat, 0.09% Protein and also plus 119kg milk with an avg EBI of 221, we have managed to breed fertility and milk into the herd. Our heifer calves born in 2022 have an average EBI of 229, and the average insemination from 2022 is 311 EBI. 

We embraced genomics at an early stage, and through our expansion, we became even more selective in our breeding process. 

From day one of each breeding season, we also inseminate with beef semen ensuring our replacements heifers are only bred from our best cow families like the Alannas, and Bordicas but also Averils and Blossom heading onto their 10th and 11th lactations with our replacement rate down to 10%. 

By using beef semen, rather than all Holstein semen, we aim to breed a decent beef calf in order to support our beef farmers. 

Ultimately, embracing genetics drives profitability and greatly improves sustainability by reducing the herd's carbon footprint and can be achieved in a short space of time with a bit of focus. Rather than increasing cow numbers further, we have increased milk production and efficiency.