Tim Joyce, Turloughmore, Co. Galway produces autumn-born Belgian Blue and Limousin weanlings for a niche export market.
He features in the second segment of Dovea Genetics’ new suckler video series, which demonstrates how its sires are proving beneficial on beef farms.
His herd comprises of sixty suckler cows, half of which are three-quarter-bred Limousins, while the rest are pedigrees.
He uses 90% AI on the farm, with a view to producing high-end weanlings for the Italian market.
Breeding programme
Sires commonly used on the Galway-based enterprise include WBH, S905, OHB and BB2247.
“You can see the consistency in this bunch of calves and a lot of that is down to having the right cross for the Belgian Blue sire.” John Lynch of Dovea Genetics explained.
“You have you a lot of Limousin blood in your cows and to go back with good blue bulls, the cross works very well.” he added.
He uses easy-calving Limousin sires on his heifers, including EBY with easy-calving Belgian Blue sires being the breed of choice for second-calvers.
“This shows you what can be achieved when you select bulls correctly and that selection process would be done mainly with his AI technician in his local area.” Lynch added.
Main image and video source: Dovea Genetics / Youtube
