Docility and ease of calving are key traits of Aubracs

EASY calving, docility and ‘handy to finish’ are the main selling points of the Aubrac cattle breed, farmers heard at a Farm Walk in Barnaderg last week.

Galway now has 18 pedigree Aubrac breeders – including two in the Aran Islands – while the breed is now also attracting a lot of interest from dairy farmers, according to Aubrac Cattle Society Chairman, James Donnellan from Dunmore.

“I suppose here in the West of Ireland, where there are a lot of part-time farmers, one of the big pluses of the Aubracs is in their ease of calving.

“They are a hill breed from the Aubrac region of France and they have small and very hardy calves. As they develop though into mature animals, they have very good feed conversion efficiency which makes them easy to finish,” said James Donnellan.

The Aubrac Society had a number of guest speakers at the Farm Walk on the lands of Martin Bermingham, Barnaderg, including French Aubrac experts, Patrice Fabre and Romain le Mouel.

Niall Kilrane of ICBF (Irish Cattle Breeding Federation) and Swinford farmer Michael Oliver also addressed farmers attending the walk on different aspects of the Aubrac breed.

Patrice Fabre went through in detail all the main characteristics of the Aubrac breed from colour to conformation while Michael Oliver talked on issues relating to farmer safety when dealing with livestock.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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