With the current milk price predictions dominating dairy farming conversations at the moment, most farmers are looking at ways to protect their margins for the coming year. I have been doing my own budgets and it's hard going delivering cuts to the farm.

One way of reducing the amount of cuts on the farm is to increase the top line figure and maximising milk price is key to this. Taking a long term view, one of the key drivers of this has been through breeding an animal predisposed to producing high value milk.

I have been crossbreeding on the farm for the past five years, initially dabbling with some Jersey semen on heifers, to now using 50% jersey or crossbred A.I straws across the herd. It has started to pay dividends with improved six week calving rate, lower empty rate and crucially increased solids performance which have all added to an increased financial performance.

However, facing into next year when I choose which A.I bulls to use across my herd, the decision is becoming more complex. Currently the ICBF active bull list is dominated with black and white high EBI bulls, which is understandable given the large gene pool within which to select.

The fact that there are no Jersey or crossbred bulls either Irish or imported heading over the €300 mark being proven or genomic is quite frustrating. Most farmers who are crossbreeding undoubtedly see the benefits from these type of stock within a grazing system. All of our research herds in this country are heavily dominated with crossbred cows, while the research that was conducted around crossbreeding showed the jersey cross cow to be by far the most profitable cow for the grazing system.

Best herd bred for grazing

Having travelled to New Zealand last year I witnessed first hand the best national herd bred for a grazing environment on the planet. Their national herd is now heavily dominated with the crossbred jersey cow, while the crossbred bull has started to dominate the higher BW ranking places. The research done by DairyNZ from its large gene pool has shown the 75% FR 25% JE to be the most profitable cow for that system.

So why have crossbred bulls not started to feature more dominantly within the EBI rankings? Is there still a fear from Irish A.I companies in testing these bulls genomically?

I was recently approached by an A.I company to genomically test the potential bull calves from seven of my high EBI in-calf heifers next spring. All of these heifers are holstein/fresian in-calf to hols/fr. Yet some of my highest EBI animals are incalf to Jersey or Jersey cross.

Gain from genomics

I would question the apparent rate of genetic gain we are supposed to be getting from genomics, the DNA of our national herd hasn’t changed that dramatically in the past five years. Surely the time for a cow performance index is required sooner rather than later to see which cows are delivering on the ground. Could hybrid vigour then actually be quantified within the EBI figure?

There is huge loyalty in this country to the black and white breeds, but maybe some consideration by the people who make the decisions around the future genetics at our diposal should include all options.

*Sean O'Donnell is a grass based dairy farmer, Nuffield scholar and the 2014 young farmer of the year. You can follow him on Twitter @seanod281.