Synonymous with professional embryo transfer services for four decades, Bovi Genetics is playing a crucial role in raising the overall quality of Irish dairy and beef herds, maximising herd biosecurity and offering breeders and owners complete peace of mind.
We travelled to Loughduff in County Cavan and caught up with owner Eddie Lynch to find out more about this exceptional operation. Enabling owners to retain top bloodlines in their herds without compromising on breeding programmes, Bovi Genetics has been Ireland’s premier embryo transfer (ET) service for over 40 years, providing a host of services to the beef and dairy sector, including scanning, recovery, freezing, transfer and pregnancy diagnosis.
The company was established in Castlewarden, County Kildare and Cavan farmer Eddie Lynch – who had already been on the road scanning for a decade – took over in 2009, relocating the business to the Breffni County.
Bovi Genetics is supported by a number of experienced professionals, including Finbarr Kiernan Team Vet, Kieran McGee Farm Manager and Ian Parker ET Assistant. Consultation, fertility treatments and a step-by-step programme ensures a successful flushing and embryo transfer program.
Services are available either in-house at Bovi Genetics’ purpose-built, state-of-the-art donor residential unit at Drumbannow, Loughduff, County Cavan (which was built with a keen emphasis on cow comfort) or on-farm via the dedicated mobile unit, whereby a fully-equipped mobile laboratory is brought to the farm, where farmers/ breeders can complete the program (guided by Bovi Genetics Ltd staff) at home.
All Donor cattle are 30-day TB tested prior to arrival and checked for IBR on collection day by our team vet. Scanning of donors / recipients prior to donor flushing or implantation of embryos ensures that the health status of both is ideal for ET. Meanwhile, a recipient pregnancy package offers the option of recipients, all screened free from BVD and vaccinated for BVD and Leptospirosis prior to embryo implantation.
Bovi Genetics source the recipients, implant the embryos and confirm in calf @ 30 days prior to collection. A foetal sexing service is also offered, whereby all recipients are scanned at 60 days, with the gender of calf diagnosed.
Reflecting on his buy-out of Bovi Genetics, Eddie explains: “I bought it as an existing embryo transfer business in ’09 and relocated it here to Mullahoran. I had already had an established company Cowmaster Ltd with a pre -existing client base providing scanning services – ultrasound pregnancy services, fertility scanning and foetal sexing – and then started to complement that with the ET service.”
Eddie is fully licenced, having completed two six-month training periods in Calgary, Canada and working in the industry for many years. In the ET business, embryos are imported and exported to many countries in the world, those in which a trade agreement exists.
“We import for our clients, the farmer who wants different bloodlines and genetics, they have a vision to change and improve genetics in their herd. The embryos are harvested from the cow’s uterus, frozen, and exported by the Department of Agriculture from our EU-approved export facility.
“Embryo transfer is becoming more and more popular due to the enhancement and improvements in genetics and Irish cattle are a force to be reckoned with in the European Markets. Our long-term goal is an overall improvement in the quality of herds nationwide via genetic improvements and enhancements, for both our farmers and the Irish economy as a whole.”
As a farmer himself, he has a very acute understanding of the needs and concerns of his fellow farmers and breeders. Alongside his wife, Zara, he runs the Erne Valley purebred Limousin herd, keeping some 60 pedigree cows (as well as a flock of 100 commercial ewes) on an excellently-managed 150-acre farm.
Six purebred Limousin cows produce all the embryos for the Lynches’ herd and the yard and its environs are maintained to the highest standards to ensure complete biosecurity, with excellent handling facilities and security features to make sure the valuable animals on the farm during the harvesting and implantation of embryos are fully secure and content.
Indeed, so well-managed is the family operation (assisted by children Kate (13), Ben (6) and Maria (4)) that Eddie Lynch was announced as overall winner in the FBD National Farmyard Awards 2016 at this year’s National Ploughing Championships. Quite an endorsement!
Bovi Genetics,
Drumbannow,
Loughduff,
County Cavan.
Tel: 043 668 3770
Mobile: 086 822 9210
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.bovigenetics.com
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 9, November/December 2016
