The most frequently used dairy sires for the 2024 spring-calving breeding season have been revealed by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).
The list contains the top 20 sires with the most serves recorded during the first six months of the year (January 1 to June 30).
The results are based on the analysis of insemination data collected from artificial insemination (AI) technicians linked to the ICBF database, through their AI handheld system.
There were a total of 439,345 dairy serves recorded on handhelds during the first six months of the year with the top 20 bulls accounting for 38% of the total dairy serves recorded on handhelds.
The most used dairy sires
The most used dairy bull this year is (IG) Tankardsrock Teak (FR7929), with 19,445 handheld serves recorded.
He is a National Cattle Breeding Centre (NCBC) sire, with an economic breeding index (EBI) of €345 – with a milk sub-index of €114 and a fertility sub-index of €140.
The second most used bull dairy bull this year is (IG) Oldcastletown Captain SRM (FR9034), with 14,568 handheld serves recorded.
This sire has an EBI of €327 – with a milk sub-index of €115 and a fertility sub-index of €135.
The top 20 most used dairy bulls used on dairy cows based on total AI handheld serves as per ICBF is as follows:
The third most used bull dairy bull this year is (IG) Oldcastletown Mojo ( FR8709), with 14,390 handheld serves recorded.
This sire has an EBI of €355 – with a milk sub-index of €105 and a fertility sub-index of €157.
Out of the top 20 most used dairy bulls, 18 of them were tested through the Dairy Gene Ireland Breeding Programme.
Moving to the breeds, Holstein is the number one used breed, with 400,689 handheld serves recorded. The breed accounts for 91% of the total handheld serves recorded.
Friesian is the second most used breed, with 10,347 handheld serves recorded. The breed accounts for 3.5% of the total handheld serves recorded.
The number of bulls used, and handheld serves recorded by breed of a dairy bull (1/1/2023-30/6/2023) as per ICBF is as follows:
Jersey is the third most used breed, with 10,347 handheld serves recorded. The breed accounts for 2.3% of the total handheld serves recorded.
In total, there were 1,504 dairy bulls recorded on handhelds during the first six months of the year.
During the first six months of the year, over 80% of the dairy inseminations have been to young genomically selected (GS) bulls.
The average EBI of the GS bulls is €63 and €79 more than the Irish Daughter proven bulls (DP-IRL) and the International Daughter proven bulls (DP-INT) respectively.
Count and percent of inseminations, average EBI and reliability for daughter proven and genomically selected bulls on total AI handheld serves as per ICBF are as follows:
The number of inseminations from GS bulls was considerably higher compared to the number of inseminations from the daughter proven bulls, and highlights farmer’s increased confidence in the young GS bulls to deliver more profitability.
Dairy beef
There were a total of 374,248 beef serves recorded on dairy cows from AI handhelds during the first six months of the year, as dairy-beef straws saw more of demand this year.
85% of the recorded dairy AI handheld serves were to Irish bred bulls, making the remaining 15% of the recorded dairy AI handheld serves being to foreign bulls.
The number one most used beef bull in dairy herds this year for the second year running is Hw Lord Horatio V538 (AA6682), with 38,586 handheld serves recorded.
He is a NCBC sire and has a dairy beef index (DBI) of €148, with a calving difficult of 3.06% on cows and 8.38% on heifers.
The top 20 beef bulls used on dairy cows based on total AI handheld serves from January 1 to June 30, 2024 as per ICBF is as follows:
The second most used beef bull in dairy herds this year is Tower Tommie (AA7506), with 18,617 handheld serves recorded.
The third most used beef bull in dairy herds this year is Intelagri Matteo E.T (ET) (AA4089), with 16,567,handheld serves recorded.
It is no surprise that Angus is still the number one most used beef breed in dairy herds, with 189,912 handheld serves recorded.
Again, it is no shock that Hereford is the second most used beef breed in dairy herds, with 81,106 handheld serves recorded.
The percentage of handheld serves by beef breeds used on dairy cows, as per ICBF is as follows:
Belgian Blue is the third most used beef breed in dairy herds, gaining in popularity in recent years with 49,863 handheld serves recorded.
In total, there were 731 beef bulls recorded on AI handhelds that were used in dairy herds during the first six months of the year.