After an 84-day finishing period, high replacement index sired bulls – from the Gene Ireland Progeny test centre at Tully, Co. Kildare – achieved an average carcass weight of 352kg at slaughter aged 13-15 months.

The June, July and August-2017 born bulls – 57 in total – had an average kill-out of 57%, with kill-outs ranging from 51% to 61%.

Overall, the animals graded extremely well with one of the bulls grading E; 47 of the bulls fell into the U-grade category and nine bulls graded R. All bulls slaughtered hit the minimum carcass fat specifications of 2+.

The average daily gain (ADG) for the group during the finishing period was 2.2kg/day; the ADG of the group ranged from 0.86kg/day to 2.84kg/day.

The average daily dry matter intake (DMI) for the group was 14.1kg/head ranging from 12.2kg/head to 15.5kg/head. The diet offered during the finishing period consisted of hay and ad-lib concentrates.

The bulls were sired by 22 different high replacement index sires across eight different breeds, including: Aberdeen Angus; Aubrac; Charolais; Limousin; Parthenaise; Saler; Shorthorn; and Simmental.

Click on a thumbnail in the gallery (below) to open up a full-size image; once opened you can scroll sideways to see the next picture. Refer to each caption to see details of sire, age at slaughter, carcass weight, ADG, conformation and fat score.

Other Gene Ireland news

According to Gene Ireland, orders are continuing for Gene Ireland Beef Winter 2018 bulls. To date, 174 herds have now signed up, taking a total of 2,780 straws.

Details on the bulls available and total straws ordered are detailed below.

Source: ICBF