Farmers' use of genomics gives Irish herd an edge

The adoption of genomics has unleashed a new era of dairy breeding, Irish Examiner Farming editor Rachel Martin writes

Dr Debbie McConnell, Eurogene AI Services’ newly-appointed chief scientist, says that breeding for production efficiency ultimately also improves dairying’s carbon footprint.

The Irish dairy cow of the future may not necessarily produce more litres of milk, but she will be smaller, have better feed conversion, and probably more closely health monitored and DNA profiled than most humans.

Ireland is currently on track to become one of the first nations to genotype its entire national beef and dairy herds, unleashing with it, a new generation of tools to target genetic advancement through breeding.