Dovea Genetics Open Day

Dovea Genetics welcomes you to its 2023 Genetics and Breeding Summer farm event. It takes place on the 31st of August 2023 in County Louth on the farm of Michael Callan and Sons from 11:00am-1:00pm. The event will examine current breeding decisions and practices which will improve cow lifetime efficiency.

Stands on the day include the following:

Farm Overview & Sexed Semen

The farm is currently milking 330 cows on a 5-robot grazing system where cows produce 596kgs milk solids at 7,320Kgs with 4.46% Fat & 3.68% Protein. The farm successfully has a 96% six-week calving rate using only sexed dairy semen for his replacements and the rest to high index dairy beef sires. The first stand will examine the development of the farm performance over the last 3 years using Dovea Genetics Sires. This stand will also focus on fertility management practices and conception rates in 2023 using sexed semen.

Breeding Strategy

The Breeding & Genetics stand will focus on breeding for improved cow lifetime efficiency through improved components and Kgs of milk solids while increasing the average lactation profile of the herd. This stand will also concentrate on the specific details around sire selection, cow & heifer selection for sexed semen, and the process of matching bulls to cows using production information and conformation information to get the best out of genetic gains.

Dairy Beef

The importance of using high dairy beef index bulls on the herd will be discussed highlighting the importance of boosting the potential to improve calf quality from a dairy system. Dovea Beef experts will be on hand on the day to go through selecting sires that are balanced for calving ease & carcass weight while maximizing the profitability of the dairy cross calf.

Grassland Management

Lely Mullingar representatives will explain the best management practices for successful robot milking systems focusing on grass management and infrastructure for an ABC System. Within this they will discuss the three main drivers of success from farm walk distances, grass cover, optimum graze outs to lead to an overall successful grazing system with an even cow flow.

Daughter Group Display

On the day, daughter groups will be on display with production performances, and indexes to offer a taste of what Dovea Genetics has to offer.

Refreshments will be available following the event. Eircode available A92A780