Eurogene shall be launching both dairy and beef catalogues at the National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore, while LIC will also have an update on what shall be available from New Zealand for the coming season.

Eurogene AI services might not traditionally be known for an extensive range of beef sires, but the company says that has all changed as it has now taken on Cogent’s signature beef range.

Top Limousin sires such as Gerrygullinane Glen, Goldcard, Jackpot & Hashtag are fast becoming household names within the breed, with both Glen and Hashtag having class and championship winners at the recent International Limousin Conference Show and Sale in Kilkenny. Tomschoice Jet will also be popular, especially for the BDGP programme (complete 5 star rating) and he is predicted as an ease of calving sire.

Two Charolais Sires worth mentioning are Alwent Goldbar and “Whitecliff James; both are sons of the renowned Blelack Digger, passing on great size and muscle to their progeny. Again, both are five-star replacement and terminal index sires.

Eurogene has decided, however, to spread their selection and have also sourced some new genetics in the form of Limousin and Charolais sires from Evolution France, home of the breeds. Torino is an outstanding Charolais with an exceptional maternal index in France; hence it is no surprise that he also has five stars here in Ireland for replacement index and a major bonus is that he also has a five-star terminal index.

Usse (JSS) is an excellent Limousin bull with superb figures – €174 replacement and €166 terminal index.

Usse is renowned in France for producing powerful daughters with frame and milk, he is also an outcross pedigree and quite easy-calving.

Personnel from Evolution France, Cogent UK and Viking Denmark will all be present on the Eurogene stand over the three days to answer any questions, as will a large number of their breeding advisers including beef specialist Mary Duggan Casey, who is well known in beef breeding circles.

LIC Ireland and LIC Automation will also have a large number of specialists available on the stand to advise Irish farmers on the most up to-date genetics and technology coming through from New Zealand including a live demo of a new automatic drafting gate that can be worked from your phone.

This innovative product enables farmers to set up drafting of cows for the next milking from wherever they happen to be. The remote drafting app, developed in New Zealand by LIC Automation, works on Apple and Android devices and is part of the Saber Draft farm automation system.

The new Saber Draft system is now available from LIC Automation and will be on display at the Ploughing on stand 356 at the intersection of Block 2, Row 16.