Bovine Genetics Project training for agri-professionals gets underway at CAFRE

The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) has commenced delivery of the Agri-professionals Programme for the Bovine Genetics Project (BGP).

This programme, which is being delivered in collaboration with Sustainable Ruminant Genetics (SRG), aims to ensure agricultural professionals are equipped with the required technical expertise on genetic improvements when engaging with farmers.

Darryl Boyd, senior technologist at CAFRE said: “By strengthening knowledge and technical expertise among agri-professionals, this programme aims to enhance knowledge transfer, increase farmer engagement with the project, and ensure genetic information is accurately interpreted and correctly applied at farm level.”

Bovine Genetics Project

The BGP, which is part of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affair’s (DAERA’s) Sustainable Agriculture Programme, aims to transform breeding decision-making across Northern Ireland’s beef and dairy sectors.

By collecting and collating animal performance and genomic data, the project intends to provide farmers with access to genetic merit information, to enable better-informed breeding decisions.

The overarching objective is to support the production of more efficient, productive and healthy animals, delivering long term productivity gains alongside environmental benefits for the wider industry.

Agri-professionals programme

The agri-professionals programme incorporates an introduction to cattle genetics, genotyping and genetic indexes, together with an overview of the Bovine Genetics Genotyping Scheme, outlining its role in increasing the rate of genetic gain.

Practical information on how to navigate the user portal, including key functions and benchmarking outputs that support the practical interpretation of genetic information, will also be covered.

Initial feedback from the first cohort of Fane Valley staff completing the programme suggests that they believe they are better equipped to advise farmers going forward, according to DAERA.

People or organisations interested in learning more about the programme should contact DAERA.

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