It's a brave man who would look to make his fortune milking cows with little if any experience of agriculture let alone dairy farming but it's one which Irishman, Peter Hynes has embraced to such an extent that he now owns one of the highest genetic merit herds in the country.

Over the past 10 years, Peter and his wife Paula have improved both the productivity and profitability of what began as a traditional 50-cow milking herd based just outside Aherla Co Cork , into one that has not only more than trebled in size but also boasts numerous industry accolades for efficiency and genetic improvment.

In doing so, they have transformed their black and white Rathard herd, which calved in the spring to an Aberdeen Angus bull over a 31week period producing milk solids of 270kg per cow, into a 180-cow unit that now calves in six weeks with yields of 440kg of ms per cow sold per year.

More impressive is the fact that they have achieved such impressive figures by relying more on forages, and improved herd management which combined, have enabled them to increase the number of days at grass from 240 to 300.

Rathard Holsteins are out at grass 300 days of the year

Rathard Holsteins are out at grass 300 days of the year

As one of the first to fully adopt the benefits of sexed semen and high genomic sires in 2013, and genotyping all heifers in 2015, fertility has improved significantly with 100% of their heifers calving at two years of age, and a herd barren rate of 7% after a 12 weeks.

Of the 180 females in the herd, a phenomenal 150 calve down in four weeks in the spring, with the remainder to beef sires over the next two weeks.

A firm believer in the benefits of breeding indecies, Peter has also seen the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) of their herd more than double from €62 in 2013 when they started using high genomic sires to more than €133. Herd indicies are rising fast too, with the 2019-born females averaging €196 and last year's heifer calves at €208.

"By focussing on the increased data from breeding advisers and tapping into the improved genetics available through young, elite genomic sires we have been able to leapfrog the breeding potential of the herd quicker and faster than using AI alone," said Peter, who was speaking at the British Cattle Breeders' virtual conference.

"We have always had a good relationship with the National Cattle Breeding Centre in Ireland and by analysing the data from their 12-16-month-old G1 bulls we have been able to maximise the genetic gain of our herd which is 2.5times higher than top 100 herds. We also now have females in top 1% nationally.

"We only breed from high genetic merit females, with home-bred heifers selected at 12 weeks of age and we use a team of six to eight elite G1 sires that are suited to the needs of our farm."

In contrast to many producers who use the most popular sires or those favoured by their neighbours, Peter looks for high genomic bulls that will benefit his herd, by selecting those with individual traits to correct any faults in certain female lines at the time.

Rathard Holstein herd contains some of the highest EBI cows in Ireland (Photo: Clare Keogh)

Rathard Holstein herd contains some of the highest EBI cows in Ireland (Photo: Clare Keogh)

"Too many dairy farmers tend to look over the fence at what their neighbour is doing and use the same sires that they are using, but ever farmer has a different herd of cows and will benefit from different traits. We always select bulls to benefit the next generation," he said.

And, by synchronising all heifers, such females are calving earlier and therefore have time to recover for the next breeding season.

By concentrating more on the elite, the couple also has more high value cattle to sell, either as high genetic merit breeding dairy females, or beef breed cattle. Last year they also sold six pedigree bulls into breeding herds.

More impressive is the fact that while neither Peter or Paula had any knowledge breeding cattle prior to 2010 with both boasting careers of a much higher profile than farming, they now own some of the highest genetic merit Holsteins in Ireland.

"Good breeding decisions through the use of high genetic merit females and GI sires can rapidly improve dairy herds – I just wish I'd gone down the genomics route earlier ."

But while indicies can prove controversial, Peter is confident that by focusing on the right traits as he believes elite family members will always remain pretty much at the top regardless of the various corrections along the way.

Backing up these statements he pointed out that their average herd EBI has dropped from 135 down to 133, yet it only stood at 112 in September, 2020.

The averages of their second, third and fourth lactation cows have also gained with the accumulation of more data, which in turn improves their confidence in genotyping.

"Yes, it has impacted individual animals; we had a 399 EBI bull which dropped to 316 on the last two proof runs, yet he is still higher than his sire and I firmly believe he now carries a more accurate proof figure. Honestly, I didn't feel he was a 400 EBI animal.

"The other side of the equation is Rathard Alanna which was born with an EBI of 279 in 2019 which climbed to 292 after genotyping – a figure she still holds after nine proof runs over 18 months.

"It's also Alanna that won the Munster EBI championship as a calf along with the overall genetic merit award at the National Dairy Show in 2019 and is due to calve in early February."

Winning calf Rathard Alana pictured with Paula Hynes, daughters Chloe, Becky and Georgina and Pat O Connor of Dovea Genetics

Winning calf Rathard Alana pictured with Paula Hynes, daughters Chloe, Becky and Georgina and Pat O Connor of Dovea Genetics

Her top breeding potential comes as no surprise when you look at her breeding as her grand-dam along with four other cow family members hold five of the top seven places on EBI in the Rathard herd – testament as to how high genetic merit animals can hold their place within a herd.

"Looking at the bigger picture, all this EBI research has allowed the national herd to make huge gains in fertility along with gestation length.

"Ultimately, the question is what do we as farmers want? If it’s a trouble free cow that goes back in calf quickly, holds condition and pumps out kgs milk solids on a low input grass based system, that equates to a high EBI herd.

"I also find myself questioning why all dairy farmers are not embracing the use of genotyping as it allows for better informed breeding decisions.

"Too many dairy farmers tend to look over the fence at what their neighbour is doing and use the same sires that they are using, but ever farmer has a different herd of cows and will benefit from different traits. That’s why we are putting increasing time into matching individual bulls to heifers for maximum genetic gain.

"Given that so many bull calves are exported every year, there is a strong argument that many dairy cows should merely be bred to beef sires in favour of the higher genetic merit cows being bred to high EBI bulls allowing for maximum genetic gain of the overall national herd.

The increase in research and data being compiled would increase efficiencies in dairy herds. Meanwhile, we on-farm decision-makers need to draw on the lessons 20 years of progress to help us make better informed decisions about our herds.

FARM facts:

Farm business: Made up Peter and Paula Hynde and daughters Chloe, Becky and Georgina and Peter's step father, Geoffrey Good, suppying milk to Dairygold co-op.

Farm investment: A new 20-unit Dairymaster parlour in 2017. Cubicle shed for 240 cows with the aim to be milking 200 cows by the end of 2021. New state of the art calf shed which can hold 100 calves allowing all calves to be held on farm for minimum of six weeks.

Milk yields: 5600litres per cow

Calving interval: 365 days