Paul, Margaret, and Siofra Ryan are calving down 154 cows this year just outside Birr in Co. Offaly where they have steadily improved their milk solids in the last number of years.

The trio are farming in partnership, where they have a spring calving herd of high economic breeding (EBI) Holstein Friesian cows.

The farmers rear all their replacement heifers and use easy calving beef bulls such as Herefords and Angus to breed quality saleable calves.

The Ryan's herd are in the top 5% of the country in terms of EBI, and they breed their replacements with a particular emphasis on milk kg, milk solids, and fertility.

Siofra said: "We are looking for an easy calving bull and that we can have a product at the end of it, a good calf, a calf that is saleable from a beef perspective and Friesian heifer that is improving the genetic gain in the herd and is adding to profitability."

The family are in their seventh year of this enterprise after making a drastic change to their breeding season, as well as their breeding strategy and objectives, which have transformed their herd.

Seven years ago, the cows produced 420kg of milk solids (MS)/cow and in 2024, the cows produced 530kg MS/cow.

Speaking about this improvement, Paul claimed: "We're still an improving product."

The Ryans were quick to compliment their breeding advisor at Progressive Genetics, Sean Hayes, who has helped them breed a more efficient cow and produce a saleable calf.

Paul Ryan said: "We came in contact with Sean Hayes and I felt we could increase profitability on the farm hugely."

The Ryans really began to trust Sean's advice when he expressed genuine interest in improving the herd, as Paul claimed: "It wasn't about selling straws, it was about improving my herd."

Sean started calling to the farm in 2004 when Paul was primarily picking all of his own bulls. It wasn't until seven years ago that Sean started to intensely select bulls to match cows in the herd.

Sean claimed that the herd had super fertility but production had to be improved, with a specific focus on improving fat and protein percentages in the herd.

The Ryans sit down with Sean every December to draw up a breeding plan and use a synchronisation programme with sexed semen on the heifers and select bulls to suit cows after that.

The family use a big team of around 12 bulls, with dairy artificial insemination (AI) underway for three to four weeks.

The bull team has an average EBI this year of €337, with an aim of 0.3% fat and 0.21% protein and fertility at €140, as they want a strong focus on milk solids and fertility.

The Ryans dairy bull team for the 2025 breeding season is as follows:

Paul said that the success of his business is like a three-legged stool. "If we haven't the machine (cow) to do it, we're at nothing, then it's about feeding and then management," he said.

Paul said that using the milk recording data to pick out his most suitable and best performing cows is simple and that the information "is in black and white in front of you, and it's only a matter of analysing it".

The Ryans have had good results from sexed semen over the years which allows them to use a lot more beef straws as they have been producing calves with good carcass weight potential, conformation potential, and feed intake potential.

The family feel that it's a win-win for both the buyer and themselves as it's more money in their pocket and the end-product for the buyer coming into the yard is the genetics that they are looking for.

In terms of replacement heifers, the Ryans usually keep about 40 replacements and after that they will have one eye on the mart and selling, making sure they have a saleable product.

Paul claimed that "the key driver is the cow and if we look after the cow, the cow will look after us" in terms of milk solids production, going back in-calf, and staying healthy.

Siofra concluded: "The cow is like an athlete and we just have to provide the raw materials to drive it on, that's our foundation here."

Additional bulls available through Progressive Genetics for Spring 2025 are as follows: