The creation of the National Cattle Breeding Centre will bring together the largest number of breeding bulls ever assembled in one place in Ireland.
A merger between the Munster Cattle Breeding Society and Progressive Genetics Ireland Ltd has created the new centre in Enfield, Co Meath, which already houses 50 bulls. It is expected that 50 more will join the centre over the next year.
According to Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan, who officially launched the venture yesterday, the current breeding programmes are small and costly, and the new centre will give scale to the breeding programmes.
At the launch of the centre in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, it emerged that Ireland has one of the lowest rates of usage of the artificial insemination (AI) system in European farming.
An estimated 40 per cent of dairy farmers breed their animals using AI, and in the beef sector the use of AI to make cows pregnant is as low as 25 per cent.
Tom Corcoran, chairman of the National Cattle Breeding Centre, said he hoped to see higher levels of AI use in upcoming programmes to improve the quality of dairy and beef herds.
Using optimal genetics on an 80-strong dairy herd could benefit the farmer as much as €9,600 a year.
He said the use of top bulls in a beef herd would increase profit by as much as €100 per animal.
The centre's chief executive Bernard Eivers said it would bring scale, focus and efficiency to proving, housing and harvesting dairy and beef bulls in Ireland.
"We are looking forward to taking on the challenge of reversing the recent decline in AI service in Ireland and delivering real benefits to Irish beef and dairy farmers."