Recent years have seen dairy farmers in Northern Ireland invest heavily in the world’s best Holstein genetics.
The growing international trade in elite embryos between is a case in point.
According to dairy breeder, Iain McLean: “This trend is very likely to strengthen further,
“We have just seen a young Holstein cow sell for $1 million at the recent Intrigue sale in the United States.
“And, no doubt, embryos from this bloodline will be making their way to Northern Ireland in the very near future.”
McLean farms close to the village of Bushmills in north Co. Antrim. Along with his wife Joyce and other family members, he manages the Priestland herd of pedigree Holstein, Jersey, Ayrshire, and Dairy Shorthorn cows.
McLean judged the dairy inter-breed classes at this year’s Omagh Show.
Speaking to Agriland at the show, he said: “Improved genetics is delivering across all aspects of dairy performance: milk output, milk quality, efficiency of performance, and enhanced animal health.
“And these trends will continue to develop into the future. It all adds up to a very positive news story for the milk sector.”
Million-dollar genetics
The recent Intrigue Sale, held in Illinois, saw Olortine Avenger Design sell for $1 million.
The four-year-old Holstein cow was bred in Ontario, Canada, and bought by GenoSource, a large dairy farm and dairy genetics supplier located in the state of Iowa.
The Intrigue Sale took place against the backdrop of increasing farm gate milk prices within the milk sector.
Across the UK and Ireland, this has encouraged significant increases in milk output.
Across the island of Ireland, dairy volumes have risen by approximately 10% year-on-year over the past two months.
In the case of Dale Farm, milk supplies for the last 12 months have broken through the one billion litre barrier.
The co-op’s group CEO, Nick Whelan, commented: “Driving all of this has been a combination of factors: the availability of a strong milk price; competitive feed prices; and the fact that 2025 has been a very favourable farming year up to this point.”
Ensuring that Dale Farm has been able to cope with all of this extra milk has been the availability of its second cheddar cheese plant, which was fully commissioned earlier this year.
Whelan said: “The plant is already working at full capacity: that’s four shifts operating on a 24:7 basis.
“The only downtime in the system is that required to carry out essential maintenance on the new facility.
“But it’s worth putting into context the scale of the increase in milk volumes we have witnessed over recent months.
“Our original development plan envisaged the new cheese operation reaching its full potential by 2028/29 – so we are four years ahead of schedule in this regard.”
