It’s hard to believe given the relatively small scale of the Irish industry compared to global partners that we are one of the leading countries in terms of implementing genomic technology at farm level. Last week industry leaders involved in genomics gathered in Dublin to discuss the changing face of the AI industry and the implications for farmers.

ICBF chief executive Sean Coughlan opened proceedings and said there is a danger Ireland could take for granted the infrastructure it has in place in terms of an independent national database. In most countries the animal database is commercially owned, and the owners may not want to share information with partners.

Sean said: “Genomics is a disruptive technology and you either row in with it or ignore it. Our industry stakeholders have shown great leadership by taking it on.”

Genetic potential

Teagasc researcher Sinead McParland explained what genomics means: “Essentially it means we know the genetic potential of an animal much sooner instead of having to wait for years of progeny information. Within 30 days of birth we will have a 50% reliability figure for that animal’s genetic potential or the equivalent information of 15 daughters milking in the herd.”

She went on to say the genetic sequence for all animals is almost identical but the 0.1% difference are called SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms).

She said available SNP information can be used to supplement the traditional science prediction approach which uses the parental information available on the parents. “We can relate SNP variants to performance, but the key is SNP information will increase accuracy of selection of the best genetics at a younger age. The cost of sequencing DNA has been reducing year after year and there are different density SNP chips depending on what level of detail is required.

ICBF’s Francis Kearney and Donagh Berry from Teagasc explained the implications of this technology. National Genomic Evaluations were introduced in February 2009 and Ireland was the second country in the world after the US to do this. Initially there were 1,000 bulls in the reference population but this has grown to 5,000 through swapping with other countries, primarily New Zealand, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, and Belgium.

Is genomics working?

Francis Kearney believes it is. He said: “If you look at Table 1 you can see that genomics is accurately predicting the milk components but maybe slightly underestimating the fertility part of an animal’s proof. The other advantage of genomics is that parentage validation is possible.” More and more farmers are genotyping their young stock as the cost of genotyping continues to fall so that they can select out the best daughters at a younger age and sell the rest if they want.

Francis explained that they need to continue to increase the size of reference population and continue to validate genomic selection.

He said: “We are also working towards multi-breed genomic evaluations. Collection of on-farm recording data is even more crucial with genomics.

“Genomics will play a crucial role in the introduction of new, hard to measure traits such as feed intake, health and disease.”

What cow for no quota?

In the most recent publication of the Irish Dairy Farmer, we look at some of the potential limiting factors inside the farm gate for dairy farm development when the quota brakes come off. We profile some of the different cows farmers are using to overcome constraints relevant to their farm business. The EBI index measures all cows, irrespective of breed, so Jersey, Jersey crossbred or Holstein Friesian cows can rank high on EBI.