Ireland launches plan to shift part of dairy production to meat

Martin Heydon, Ireland’s Minister of Agriculture and Marine, has presented the Food Vision 2030 Dashboard. One of the proposals is to transition part of dairy livestock production toward a meat-focused system. This initiative was introduced in March 2024, and the minister and committee received a joint presentation from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, Teagasc, and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation on ongoing implementation and outcomes of the plan.

Several key advances were reported, including an increase in artificial insemination with beef breed genetics in dairy cattle, and a rise in calf genotyping. In particular, the importance of the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) was highlighted as a tool for farmers, as well as the significant and broader potential of high-profitability dairy calf-to-beef conversion systems.