Visited a farm in Birr, County Offaly Christmas week with a pedigree herd of Brown Swiss cows. The farmer in question is getting out of this breed of cow as he finds that legs and feet are a major issue with them. The cows do not lie-up in the cubicles properly and end up with a tremendous number of hock and feet problems. Another major issue for the client is the ability to detect heats as he precives that the intensity of heat shown by the cows is very poor relative to other Friesian cows in the herd. He has made a decision to cross-breed the Friesian with the Brown Swiss cows to ultimately get out of all pedigree Brown Swiss in his herd.