Breeding the best genetics for your herd: Lanarkshire

Join us for the next meeting at our Scottish all-year-round (AYR) calving strategic farm where we’re looking at making informed choices to improve the genetic potential of the herd.

High-quality cattle are at the heart of profitable dairy farming and good breeding decisions that suit your system are critical to herd improvement. Good-quality genetics is key to this because, no matter how good your management is, there will be a ceiling to your herd’s performance and profitability without it.

At the meeting

Strategic farmer William Baillie will share his approach to making the best breeding choices and replacement selections for his herd. Genetics specialists Marco Winters and Fern Pearston from AHDB will share their experience on making best use of the tools and indexes available from AHDB, so you can make the best decisions for your herd. Colin Penny from Zoetis will describe the practical process involved in heifer genomic testing and how farmers can use the results to help plan heifer inventory and breeding decisions.

We will focus on:

• Background to breeding the right cows for Hillhead of Covington
• Growing the herd from 50 to 310 pedigree Holsteins with a top 15% genetic merit ranking
• Exploring the tools available to inform choices, including genetic indexes, herd genetic reports and genomics
• Identifying herd strengths and challenges and exploring how selective breeding can improve herd performance
• Current performance against key performance indicators (KPIs) for AYR calving herds
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Who should attend? Anyone who is keen to learn from others about maximising your herd’s genetic potential for optimal performance.

Venue: Tinto Hotel, 44 Biggar Road, Symington, Nr Biggar, Lanarkshire ML12 6FT and afterwards at Hillhead of Covington, Thankerton, Biggar, Lanarkshire, ML12 6NE By kind permission of William Baillie

To book your place contact the AHDB KE Events Hub on 01904 771216 or ke.events@ahdb.org.uk or for more information contact Karen Lowe on 07759 586321.

The cost of attending this event is covered through your levy but please ensure you register your attendance for catering purposes. If you have any special dietary requirement please contact us as soon as possible   

Please bring a clean pair of wellington boots to help with the biosecurity and out of respect to the host’s farm business. 

Dairy Pro Points are available for attending this event, Click here for more details.