COMING SOON!

IHFA Members thoughts on genotyping: John O’ Sullivan, Lisduff, has already seen the benefits of genotyping in his herd. “Developments in cattle breeding over the last 25 years have been spectacular. New technologies have breached frontiers that we once thought invincible. Computing power advances have enabled databases, in Ireland’s case ICBF, to rapidly process unimaginable quantities of data from the national herd and provide accurate breeding information.

National Genotyping

The programme will be based on a cost sharing model between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the beef and dairy industry, and participating farmers.

Year 1 will involve the genotyping of up to 800,000 cows and breeding heifers.

A word from Laurence Feeney

“IHFA has a fantastic opportunity now to cost effectively genotype the entire Herdbook. This is a game-changer for our industry and our members. We can boost the appeal of our herds as the best source of livestock for both dairy and beef sectors. More precise pedigree data will enhance buyer trust and allow us to showcase the outstanding quality of our animals. We can speed up genetic improvement in our dairy heifers, regardless of your herd’s main breeding objective. We already witness enormous demand for pedigree cattle from domestic and foreign markets, and this will only increase with this initiative.

Year 2-5 of the programme will require participating herds to commit to using the DNA Registration process on all animals born in the herd from 2024 to 2027 (inclusive).

Programme Benefits

Parent verification: A genotyped animal can have its Sire & Dam confirmed. Genotyping at birth will correct parentage errors (which currently sit at on average 17% per herd).

Higher reliability EBI/Eurostar figures: Genotyping increases the reliability of figures even before the animal has produced any offspring.

Traceability: Genotyping ensures that from birth there is full traceability of every meat & milk sample.

The sustainability area is where new opportunities lie. By fully genotyping dairy males and beef-cross calves, the calf buyer can trust the genetics they are buying and avoid some of the risk of buying

Cost: Herds who commit to participate in the National Genotyping Programme will get their cows and breeding females genotyped for free.

From 2024 onwards, farmers will genotype all

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THE CURRENT DNA CALF REGISTRATION PROCESS

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Farm: Calf is born & Tagged

When the calf is born the farmer tags with a double tissue tag and records all of the basic information such as, DOB, Sire, Dam, etc.

Lab: Analysis

Sample is received and processed in the genotyping lab and then sent to the ICBF database.

ICBF: Genomic Results

ICBF confirms the parentage and the genomic results are generated and made available to the farmer.

DAFM: Registration

Herdowner receives an alert to let them know that they can complete registration process. Herdowner registers the calf with AIMS.

Farm: Blue Card

Blue card is issued and calf is now fully registered via the DNA Registration process.

Sexed semen has revolutionised breeding options so that maximum use can be made of the information generated by the database. The next development will be the genotyping of the entire bovine population in Ireland.”

“At Lisduff we have been genotyping all youngstock for the last 9 years. There are only 31 older cows in the Herd that are not genotyped and they will be processed under the new scheme. The advantages are numerous. Firstly it confirms parentage so that human errors arising from say recording the wrong straws or wrong identification at birth are corrected. Secondly, it gives a great picture of the strengths and weaknesses of each calf e.g. production (milk, BF and protein), so that complementary matings can be made at breeding. Thirdly, it will identify animals of families. The benefit in having many generations genotyped is the reliability we can see now. Our top cow families are also our highest EBI animals. Having purchased Glashnabrack Alanna 733 in 2014 as an incalf heifer, her EBI now stands at 310 and has also classified EX92 2E on her 9th lactation whilst also having an EX daughter along with 3 VG daughters all of whom have genotyped high. Her VG 86 daughter Rathard Supreme Alanna with protein at 3.7% has now produced a 411 EBI daughter. The Rathard Blossom cow family which adds longevity to the herd has seen us produce Rathard Resilient who became our first bull sold to AI last year with his great grand dam now on her 10th lactation and his 3rd lactation dam having an EBI 266 at 5.09% fat and 3.75% protein.

Having a fully genotyped herd will greatly help exceptional breeding merit that otherwise might be missed. For example LISDUFF PERCEPTION (FR6139) at NCBC now with a milking daughter component in his proof and with an EBI of 291. NCBC recently purchased a calf LISDUFF NAPOLEON ET with an EBI of 317 (had a parent average of 256). At this stage we could not countenance going forward without a policy of genotyping at least all female calves and would urge all fellow breeders to get on the genotyping train at the first station.”

Peter Hynes, Rathard, has been impressed with the information and guidance in terms of herd management genotyping offers “ Having upgraded our herd to pedigree status in 2013, we then began genotyping our females in 2014 with a view to identifying our best females and cow us improve our sustainability at a rapid pace as research further focuses on using genetics to breed even more carbon efficient dairy cows”

Advantages of genotyping:

• Parent verification

• More accurate genetic evaluations for all traits

• Identification of animals out performing their parentage averages

• Information on genetic defects and major genes (coat colour, Haplotypes etc)

• Commercial Beef Value indexes on beef cattle, including dairy bull calves

• Better selection of replacement heifers

The programme will be open for online application in the coming weeks – please keep an eye on the ICBF/IHFA website for updates.