ICBF and Teagasc launched a new decision support tool, the COW (Cow’s Own Worth), to aid in culling and retention decisions of dairy females on October 31 at the Paddy O’Keeffe Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark.
The event was attended by industry members and pilot herd farmers who participated in the development of the new decision support tool.
Speakers on the day included Prof Pat Dillon (Teagasc), Dr Margaret Kelleher (ICBF), Prof Donagh Berry (Teagasc), Alan Jagoe (split-calving farmer), Fiachra Liston (spring-calving farmer), Dr Doreen Corridan (Munster), Prof Dorian Garrick (Massey University, New Zealand) and Sean Coughlan (CEO ICBF) chairing the session.
The COW is a new online support tool that instantly ranks dairy cows on their expected future profit potential based on the most up-to-date information available.
Farmers can quickly identify under-performing cows and choose cull candidates and keep the most profitable cows in the herd, giving the potential to improve herd profitability.
The initial research for the COW project took place at Teagasc, Moorepark in collaboration with the ICBF and AbacusBio Ltd. Results from the study showed that the COW was able to rank cows in order of most profitable to least and thereby identify underperforming cows in the herd.
The ICBF developed this research further and trialled the COW on approximately 200 herds and received farmer feedback through surveys which was later used to design and implement the new COW decision support tool, available online from Tuesday, October 31.
The COW profile can be accessed by logging onto your HerdPlus account at www.icbf.com under the View Profiles tab. Here the COW will generate in seconds, retrieving all current and past information on your cows, while making predictions on future performance in the herd.
Cows that are under-performing will be ranked at the bottom of the list and may be considered for culling.
“Our strength in the Irish system is collaboration,” Dr Doreen Corridan remarked and the COW is a perfect example of research, industry, and farmers coming together to create something useful for the industry. This is only the first version of COW and it is anticipated that there will be further developments in the future to enhance the service.
ICBF and Teagasc would like to thank everyone who has helped to progress the COW to this stage and very much look forward to the successful role out of this support tool.
