Dairy farmers levy could fund a sexing machine

Iwill tell. I’ll certainly be eager to see when this new Beef Plan Group hits the big dairy counties.

We certainly do all have a responsibility in tackling this issue. If you look back over 30 years, dairy cow numbers are more or less the same. We in the dairy industry have gained efficiency, which has increased output and I think we have plenty more room to increase efficiency, thus milk production will continue to rise. Suckler cow numbers, on the other hand, have increased dramatically in that time and I’m in total agreement that the national suckler herd needs to be halved.

There are some super operators out there running highly efficient suckler systems, but there is also the inefficient system which, at the very least, could be replaced by an alternative beef system.

Before every beef farmer turns the page in temper, just remember I did say we all need to take responsibility and here is where the dairy farmer comes into play.

We’ve used sexed semen on the farm here for a number of years, quite successfully I might add. Unfortunately, I cannot access the very top genetics in the form of sexed semen.

Ultimately, my job is to produce milk so I am not willing to compromise on genetics — we only use the top genotyped bulls every year and this is showing in results for us.

Maybe it’s about time all dairy farmers contributed in the form of a very small levy which would fund a sexing machine being purchased by the ICBF, which all Irish AI companies would have access too. Indeed, we face lots of issues from many angles as regards the dairy bull calf and we need to face this head-on by changing what we do from a breeding perspective.

I’ll leave you with that thought.

I certainly know that given the top genetics in the form of sexed semen, I would change my system tomorrow morning and end up supplying a lot more Hereford and Angus calves into the beef industry.