Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 2 July 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Beef Data and Genomics Programme: Discussion with Irish Cattle Breeding Federation

11:30 am

Dr. Andrew Cromie:

Yes. To get a genetic evaluation one needs to have the sire and the calf. In some circumstances the farmer may not have both the sire and the calf. If that calf is a heifer and comes into the herd as a replacement, once the heifer is in calf and becomes a cow, we evaluate the cow based on herself and her calf. Automatically she starts to get a genetic evaluation.