Signpost: Using sexed semen and the Dairy Beef Index to breed selectively

Farmer Peadar O'Driscoll in West Cork. Picture: Denis Minihane.

Breeding season has been good so far - fingers crossed it stays that way! My three-week submission rate is 94%, and the remaining cows were submitted by the end of the fourth week of breeding. Fifty sexed semen straws were used between maiden heifers and cows, with all other straws being beef straws with a high Dairy Beef Index (BDI) value.

Stock bulls have been left out with both cows and heifers. There is one bull running with the cows, and I am still AI-ing with beef straws along with this to try and increase conception rates. There are two bulls running with the heifers as there are no handling facilities to stall them for AI on the land which they are grazing now. I had the vet out to check four cows as they weren’t showing any signs of being in heat.