The breeding season is the most important time of the year in a block calving dairy system.

A successful season will set the farm up for high performance next season and reduce the costs of production.

It’s an exceptionally busy time – the farmer has to put the effort into breeding, whereas the cows will ordinarily calve by themselves in their own time.

It’s a decision-heavy time of year – choosing what AI bulls to use and choosing what cows to submit for AI every day.

New technology such as sexed semen and more recently IVF bring new opportunities for farmers

Because it is so important, it can also be stressful for the farmer, so it’s crucial to be mentally and physically prepared in advance.

Best practice around breeding is evolving continuously. New technology such as sexed semen and more recently IVF bring new opportunities for farmers. While IVF is still in the early stages of its practical use, it does show what is possible. Sexed semen was a novelty 10 years ago, but it’s now very much mainstream, with a sexing lab in Teagasc Moorepark. This has lead to an increase in the choice of sexed bulls available to farmers this season.

\ Donal O'Leary

Many farmers will be using sexed semen for the first time this season. It’s important to remember the objective of sexed semen is not to breed more heifer calves, but instead to minimise the number of male dairy calves born.

This can be achieved by using sexed semen on the best cows and using beef bulls on the remainder to breed higher value beef calves.

Genomics is another technology which has disrupted the way bulls were traditional selected. I take a look at how the most widely used bulls in 2018 have subsequently performed.

The active bull list is dominated by genomically selected bulls. The key point with genomics is to spread your risk.