Ireland’s national bovine genotyping programme (NGP) has reopened for new applicants.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon reopened the programme on Tuesday. It began in 2023 and aims to build a fully genotyped national herd.
This would be a world-first initiative, which integrates DNA sampling into calf registrations to verify parentage and deliver genomic evaluations for newborn calves.
An additional 4,500 herds were accepted into the programme in 2024, bringing the total number of participants to 15,000.
Minister Heydon said: "The response to the programme has been very encouraging to date and by increasing participation, we are taking another significant step towards reaching my ambition of genotyping the entire national bovine herd."
Genotyping
Interested farmers are encouraged to apply via the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) website as early as possible to ensure inclusion in phase three of the programme.
The NGP is a collaborative initiative based on a cost-sharing model between the Department of Agriculture, the beef and dairy industry and participating farmers.
The ICBF said that genotyping the national herd will help the dairy and beef industry to accelerate in the rates of gain of the national breeding indexes (EBI, Eurostar and DBI), which will enhance farm sustainability and reduce carbon emissions.
ICBF CEO Sean Coughlan added: “[The] ICBF welcomes the opportunity to bring more herds into the national genotyping programme.
"This builds on the excellent momentum gained over the course of the programme so far and will provide more Irish farmers with the tools to make informed data-driven decisions on farm.”
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Ireland’s national bovine genotyping programme (NGP) has reopened for new applicants.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon reopened the programme on Tuesday. It began in 2023 and aims to build a fully genotyped national herd.
This would be a world-first initiative, which integrates DNA sampling into calf registrations to verify parentage and deliver genomic evaluations for newborn calves.
An additional 4,500 herds were accepted into the programme in 2024, bringing the total number of participants to 15,000.
Minister Heydon said: "The response to the programme has been very encouraging to date and by increasing participation, we are taking another significant step towards reaching my ambition of genotyping the entire national bovine herd."
Genotyping
Interested farmers are encouraged to apply via the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) website as early as possible to ensure inclusion in phase three of the programme.
The NGP is a collaborative initiative based on a cost-sharing model between the Department of Agriculture, the beef and dairy industry and participating farmers.
The ICBF said that genotyping the national herd will help the dairy and beef industry to accelerate in the rates of gain of the national breeding indexes (EBI, Eurostar and DBI), which will enhance farm sustainability and reduce carbon emissions.
ICBF CEO Sean Coughlan added: “[The] ICBF welcomes the opportunity to bring more herds into the national genotyping programme.
"This builds on the excellent momentum gained over the course of the programme so far and will provide more Irish farmers with the tools to make informed data-driven decisions on farm.”
Read more
ICBF looking at genotyping issues
Home Farm: all clear and genotyping
SHARING OPTIONS