ICBF Clewbay High-master.
Nine of the top 10 priced bulls sold at a Simmental bull sale in Roscommon mart recently were at least four €uro-stars, according to the ICBF.
In a recent analysis of bull sales, it says that looking at €uro-star bulls and prices in marts shows that there is a strong message coming from farmers that good €uro-star ratings are in demand from beef farmers.
It looked at pedigree bulls of different breeds at sales in 2013 and 2014. In Tullamore in May 2014, at a Charolais bull sale, some 67% of the bulls entered had at least three €uro-start for the ‘terminal index’. And five of the top seven prices were paid for bulls with at least five stars, according to the ICBF.
At a Limousin sale in Roscrea, 72% of the bulls entered had at least four €uro-stars and nine of the top 10 prices were paid for bulls with at least 4.5 stars.
The ICBF says that pedigree breeders by choosing €uro-star bulls are reducing the number of sires they can pick from, but it gives commercial farmers a far wider selection of bulls with good €uro-star ratings to choose from.
The ICBF ‘bull search’ facility of its website shows that farmers re looking for Limousin and Charolais bulls more than any other breeds. Some 221,063 searches were done for Limousin bulls, while 190,520 searches were done for Charolais bulls.