With an increasing national dairy herd, more and more dairy farmers are choosing Friesian as the sire of choice when breeding cows. Figure 1 shows the trend in inseminations from 2010 to 2016 (the most recent available data). The number of Friesian inseminations has lifted from 600,000 on just over 1m dairy cows to 757,000 on 1.33m dairy cows.

However, also rising from 2013 onwards are Hereford- and Angus-sired calves. Importantly, easy calving and shorter gestation sires are driving the decision for dairy farmers to use these breeds. The incentive of premiums from factories for this type of stock also makes them very saleable for the dairy farmer when he/she is selling at three to four weeks of age.

Angus increase

In 2010, there were approximately 140,141 Angus-sired calves born to dairy dams and that has now lifted to 246,138, an increase of over 100,000. Similarly, the Hereford calves have lifted significantly. In 2010, there were 102,777 calves registered and now that figure is 163,630.

Limousin and Belgian Blue-sired calves have more or less stayed the same over the six-year period.

Calves bred by the Jersey sire have increased slightly but are still a very small part of the overall calf crop with 17,099 calves registered in 2010 up to 22,790 in 2016.

So with over 320,000 extra cows in the Republic, the message is clear – most of them are either Friesian, Angus or Hereford.

This message goes a long way to explaining why beef farmers and factories are saying carcases are smaller and lighter.

Dairy Day 2017

The Irish Farmers Journal will host National Dairy Day on Thursday 23 November 2017 in Punchestown Event Centre, Co. Kildare. The event promises to offer solutions for a growing sector. The day aims to showcase all that is good about the dairy industry and find solutions for farmers to emerging challenges and trends. To get a FREE ticket for Dairy Day, simply collect 3 tokens from the Irish Farmers Journal and bring them along with you on the day or BUY YOUR TICKET HERE