Dairy
Breeding is well underway now, yet not too many farms will have stocks bulls out yet, as the majority go with AI in the early season.
Dairy Technical
As breeding kicks off this week, sexed semen usage will dominate the first three weeks of artificial insemination (AI) on many farms.
With breeding kicking off in two weeks time, industry leaders are emphasising the key messages that will ensure a successful season.
Selecting twice the number of cows to put forward for semen could be costing you €20 in terms of your economic breeding index (EBI).
Sexed semen usage has been on an upward trajectory of the last number of years, with approximately 400,000 sexed semen straws used in 2025.
N.Ireland
Agricultural land prices in Northern Ireland continue to strengthen with new trends apparent in how this market is defined.
Sexed semen has grown in popularity over the last few years, which has ultimately led to the uptake in synchronisation programmes.
Calving will be slowing down on many farms, which might give farmers some time to start thinking about the breeding season.
Many winter milking herds may only begin breeding after Christmas, which means considering a synchronisation programme may be worthwhile.
With winter breeding right around the corner, farmers are busy preparing and picking their bull teams for a successful 2026.
Beef
Both the confirmation and carcass weight of dairy-beef cattle has been in decline in recent years, latest ICBF data has shown
Agriland spoke with Alan Clarke of Cows.ie to see what the outlook was for the trade of heifers amid high stock prices and supply shortages..
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Accelerating genetic gain was highlighted at one of the boards at Moorepark '25 open day today where the changes to the economic breeding...
In light of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation's (ICBF's) statistics on the shortage of dairy replacement heifers being born on dairy...
We are now a couple of weeks into the breeding season for many dairy farmers with still little sign of a stock bull out in fields just yet...
The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) produced stark figures a couple of weeks ago, indicating a significant drop in dairy female calf
We are now into the breeding season and for the majority of dairy farms, sexed semen usage is going to dominate the first three weeks...
Conception rates in general last year seemed to be poor with colder weather and challenging conditions in spring and sexed semen...
The trend over the last few years is that farmers are breeding the number of replacement dairy heifers that is required for a sufficient...
Breeding season for herds calving down in late January is only a few weeks away and for many, they will be aiming for that first week of Feb..
Agriland spoke with a number of artificial insemination (AI) companies about the criteria being selected for sires this breeding season...
