This year’s most recent active bull list is now available to view online with the list due to be updated again at the end of May.
There are 75 bulls on the list ranging in EBI from €238 to €324. Over half the bulls on the list are genomic bulls with the remainder being daughter proven with daughters in Ireland, internationally or both.
Top of the list is Ballygown Albert (FR4513), a newly released genomic sire. He ranks highest in EBI (€324) and has a reliability of 56%. He is a high-production sire with a predicted difference (PD) for milk of 154kg, fat of 23.82kg and protein of 15.93kg.
Fourth on the list is Diamond Anton (FR2239), which was one of the top-used bulls in 2018 and grandson of the popular Lucky Whistler (WLY).
Source: ICBF
The most fertile bull on the list is Ballinteskin Arnold (FR4021), with a fertility sub-index of €215 and a predicted reduction in calving interval of -12.01 days.
The top Jersey bull on the list is Bradene Pas Triplestar (JE4289) with an EBI of €282.
Sire advice
Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 2, is the deadline for running the HerdPlus dairy sire advice for your herd; so that the chosen matings can be included in the breeding charts before they are printed.
Last month, the figures for all AI bulls were updated on HerdPlus sire advice. If you have previously run sire advice you can now re-run it for the most recent results for your herd.
Sire advice is a useful tool available for dairy HerdPlus users, which allows them to match a selected team of bulls to the most suitable cows for breeding.
The service allows you to either manually enter your selected bulls or find the most suitable bulls for your herd through a filtering system. This system allows you to enter ranges for particular traits you want in your herd and find the most suitable AI bulls for you.
The system matches the most suitable bull to the most suitable cow, for the best genetic gain in your herd and eliminates the risk of inbreeding.