Paula Hynes: If only genetic gain could be simplified
The world of shipping semen and embryos is far from simple, writes Cork dairy farmer Paula Hynes.
With the outdoor agricultural shows finished, I always find September is a rush to catch up on so many little jobs around the farm before life gets busy again in October.
We dosed all the in-calf heifers this week. After such a dry summer, damper weather now and wet grass is certainly going to lead to huge issues with lungworm in young cattle and, if not monitored, can lead to pneumonia very fast.
A good few years ago, after a dry June and July, August turned wet and we had two cases of pneumonia in the heifer calves within 24 hours, and it was simply down to lungworm.
I also find animals need to build up a certain level of resistance through exposure, which in turn will benefit them as cows, so there is a fine line between dosing young heifers too often or too little.
The easiest way to spot signs of lungworm is by listening to hear of any cough in youngstock when the weather turns damp.
Autumn calving arrived with a bang but is almost done and dusted again. All our Jerseys produced heifer calves so far via sexed semen.
Kiki is the last Jersey due to calve and due within the next few days. Kiki is a great old worker of a cow. She was halter trained last September and placed 4th at the National Dairy Show, followed by a 2nd place in the RUAS Winter Fair on-farm challenge, and stood champion Jersey at Midleton Show this year.
She is the dam of Kasey and Kali, and her September-born heifer from 2025 has had a fantastic season in the show ring this year. As brood cows go, she certainly ticks every box and has made a fantastic contribution to the herd.
We also have a few nice Holstein second and third-calvers. One cow needed a caesarean last week. Unfortunately, she had a twist in her uterus and, due to the size and weight of the calf, it was impossible for our vet Pat to untwist, so the caesarean was required.
But thankfully, cow and calf are fit and healthy. The cow passed the afterbirth 24 hours after calving, so at least we know her uterus is clean.
All calves are tagged, with tissue samples being sent off for genotyping in Ireland, and the best of the heifers will be genotyped again internationally, as we find the international conformation figures a lot more accurate.
While this service is now also being offered through the IHFA, which is fantastic, a little bit of joined-up thinking and one genotype could provide two sets of data when it is read on a different program.
It is an argument we constantly have with AI companies as we question why a bull which is genotyped internationally needs to be re-genotyped in Ireland. Absolute madness, as the genotype file already exists. The ICBF understand this, but some AI companies still can’t grasp it.
Of course, EBI is crucial if an animal is due to produce from a mostly grass-based system but, with no disrespect to the ICBF, EBI really doesn’t come into play with a high-input animal, especially destined to compete at the very top shows.
Data sharing and a little bit of knowledge sharing would go a long way to creating a simpler system for us all as, to be fair, the ICBF is full of extremely knowledgeable people who are always extremely helpful.
It may seem like I am having a rant, but it is unbelievably frustrating to see a shipment of semen arrive into Ireland and get held up due to bulls needing to be re-genotyped when the ICBF would have analysed the files if they were provided with them whilst the semen was in transit.
The world of shipping semen and embryos is far from simple. I have heard of untold amounts of liquid nitrogen tanks full of semen or embryos being held up in Irish airports due to customs or veterinary inspectors not understanding paperwork or not being happy with paperwork and refusing to accept email copies, therefore sending the tanks back to their original point of departure.
Simple things like an inspector not understanding what the breed code 'HO' means can end up causing significant delays. It, of course, refers to Holstein — which one would expect any person inspecting an AI tank to understand.
The reality is all these little glitches of madness slow down genetic gain in Ireland. We have an account with a major AI company in the UK where we order semen directly for use on our few animals in the UK.
We can have access to semen within 48 hours of it arriving in the UK, yet it may be a further two to three months before we can have access to the same sires in Ireland.
It is Ploughing week, where over 200,000 people descend on the National Ploughing Championships, but I won’t be attending. We simply do too much driving all year, and it is nice to have a few weeks at home.
So, rather than walking the steel roadways, I will be going for dinner with family who are visiting and I also have the excitement of a cow party to look forward to, that is provided two very important calvings don’t interfere with my social plans.
We are also extremely busy getting ready for the FBD National Dairy Show, which is looming fast.
The workload is really getting hectic: cows and heifers being washed daily, all the heifers have been pre-clipped again, cows are getting four feeds a day, so evenings never finish early.
Each animal knows its routine. They are literally like family to us. It is most likely our busiest show of the year and seems to be getting busier year on year, but in many ways that is probably a positive of how breeding is going.
It is getting to the stage where an animal needs to earn its place on the team. No room for passengers.
