2025 is shaping up to be a promising year for Irish dairy farmers – a welcome contrast to 12 months ago. The weather in the first half of the year has been excellent leading to superb grass growth and well-performing cows.
Farmers say milk production costs have been low this year, with prices remaining strong. It’s also encouraging to see the beef industry getting a share of the spoils, with prices holding up well.
Now is an opportune time to review your systems and see where you can make improvements. Herd improvement should be at the top of that list.
I could argue that the financial difference between your best and worst performing cows can be seen more clearly in a good year like this one. You can access powerful data on individual cow performance within the herd through ICBF reports.
Many of our customers manage herds that include both LIC and Irish genetics. In recent months, LIC has conducted in-depth analysis to identify which cows are performing best, which we’ll be showcasing in the coming weeks.
Cows with LIC genetics in their background are consistently proving to be the top performers in herds across Ireland.
Farmers who have used LIC genetics for years recognise the value of the cows they’re milking and how well they fit into their systems.
So, what gives LIC genetics the edge? There are many contributing factors, but a few key ones include:
Scale
There are 4.7 million dairy cows in New Zealand and three out of every four cows are bred by LIC genetics. A large cow population allows for more reference data, which leads to more accurate evaluations.
Breeding directions
For LIC it’s all about efficiency. To breed for the most efficient cows we must breed for the right traits. Breeding Worth (BW) places downward pressure on the liveweight of cows and therefore breeds cows with moderate liveweight. New Zealand has also been breeding for cows with high protein and fat percentages a lot longer than Ireland has.
TOP (Traits other than production)
Scoring traits other than production in cows gives far greater accuracy around traits such as udders, feet and legs, and capacity. Carrying out independent TOP inspections on the dams and daughters of AI bulls in New Zealand requires significant investment from LIC.
Embryo transfer (ET)
LIC uses ET to ensure that cows and heifers identified with elite genetics can have more than one offspring in a given year. LIC facilitates over 3000 embryos as part of our breeding programme per year. ET-generated bulls make up over 40% of bull intakes each year. In addition, more than 5000 cows across New Zealand are contract mated by LIC each season.
Crossbred genetics
Over 60% of the NZ national herd is now Holstein Friesian X Jersey crossbred. Farmers were keen to take advantage of profitability gains from hybrid vigour and to create a ‘medium’ sized robust cow that many felt was ideally suited to their farming system.
Jersey and KiwiCross® genetics are delivering strong results for Irish farmers too, which we’ll showcase over the coming weeks.
Fertility
New Zealand nationally has improved their six week in-calf rate (6WICR) by almost 4% in two years. Table 1 shows the relationship between 6WICR and the fertility BV in BW.
This shows that LIC is keeping its eye on the ball with fertility. Much of this gets lost in Ireland, as LIC bulls are selected based on BW, and their genetic potential can get misrepresented when converted to EBI. Our advice: base your decisions on real-world performance – what’s happening on the ground with LIC bred cows.
This performance is most clearly demonstrated in co-op performance reports from long-standing LIC users.
The co-op performance report shown speaks volumes. It represents the standard every farmer should aim for with their herd.
If you’re not there yet, get in touch. Now is the perfect time to start planning.
