This week’s winter AI and BDGP focus comes ahead of a busy few months for autumn-calving herds. Weather has been good over the last few weeks and I have heard of few issues in autumn-calving herds. Attention now turns to breeding, and as Kieran Mailey points out in his article, consistency is key in everything that happens over the next few weeks, from diet to dosing.

It’s always a tricky time for conception rates when cows are housed. Try and manage the transition as smoothly as possible, to avoid any upsets to breeding 2020.

It’s hard to believe that the BDGP is coming to an end after five years in operation.

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There are still a few hoops to jump through and the upcoming deadline of 31 October is an important one. There are currently 9% of BDGP herds not on course to meet the 50% genotyped four/five-star female requirement on 31 October. Declan Marren spoke to Chris Daly from ICBF and put farmer queries to him around avoiding penalties in the final payment.

We take a look at where suckler cow numbers have been over the past 15 years and where they could be in the future.

The difference in the growth of the dairy and suckler herds is stark. The challenge with the next 10 years will be encouraging young people into the industry. At the current profitability levels, that’s going to be a difficult job.

Finally, we take a look at the new Meat Eating Quality index and which breeds faired best in the recently published list. It’s no surprise that Aberdeen Angus and Hereford are at the top of the list. All breeds have bulls with the ability to increase meat eating quality. It could become an important selling point in the future, with science to back it up. It’s up to the meat processors to decide if they really want it and what are they willing to pay for it.