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I hear the ICBF hosted a visit from the US Department of Agriculture in recent weeks.
Dr John Cole, who leads research at the USDA’s genetics lab in Maryland, took the trip over to Shinagh, Co Cork, to see how the ICBF’s cattle defect reporting system is set up. While there are more US dairy cows genotyped in number, Ireland has a greater proportion of the national herd genotyped. By all accounts, Cole was very impressed by the collaboration between ICBF, farmers, industry, veterinarians and the regional vet labs to get the defects recorded and eradicated. Dr Jennifer McClure, who led the ICBF project, and her husband and fellow geneticist, Matthew, are leaving these shores to return to the US, taking up new roles with the USDA.
Genetic cattle defects costing farmers €1.7m per year
Dwarf calves among the most common defect reported by beef farmers
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