Table: Top 10 AI sires for autumn 2024 suckler births
Almost a quarter of the suckler-bred calves born in the second half of 2024 were sired by artificial insemination (AI) bulls.
The second half of 2024 saw 151,748 suckler-bred calves born on Irish farms, of which 34,382 (23%) were registered to an AI sire, according to Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) data.
Of these, 44% have already been genotyped and 10 sires account for 32% of all the AI suckler progeny born in the first half of 2024.
The table below details the top 10 AI sires with the most suckler-bred progeny recorded to them between July 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024:
| Rank | AI code | Name | Number of progeny | Repl. Index | Term Index | GI sire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CH4321 | Lapon | 2,184 | €71 | €155 | Yes |
| 2 | LM2014 | Ewdenvale Ivor | 2,066 | €152 | €143 | Yes |
| 3 | LM4217 | Moondharrig Knell | 1,036 | €160 | €97 | Yes |
| 4 | LM7416 | Powerful Proper | 942 | €142 | €123 | Yes |
| 5 | LM4184 | Loyal | 913 | €145 | €122 | No |
| 6 | CH4159 | Knockmoyle LokiET | 902 | €120 | €156 | No |
| 7 | CH6490 | Orbi | 759 | €104 | €126 | Yes |
| 8 | AA4089 | lntelagri Matteo ET | 667 | €223 | €114 | Yes |
| 9 | CH7503 | Cloonradoon Ricky | 620 | €34 | €131 | Yes |
| 10 | BB4438 | An de Beauffaux | 576 | €71 | €91 | No |
As can be seen above, the top 10 list is dominated by well-proven Charolais and Limousin sires along with one Angus and one Belgian Blue.
The 10 sires listed above have an average replacement Index of €122 with relatively high reliability across all the sires and very high in some cases.
Seven of the top 10 sires, and all of the top four sires have graduated from Gene Ireland over the years, which, according to the ICBF, "highlights the value of the programme for consistently progeny testing young high impact sires".
Other top AI sires by breed for suckler-bred calves born in this time:
- Aubrac: Turloughmore Magnificent (AU4683) with 185 progeny registrations;
- Belgian Blue: Negrita Du Lac (BB8019) with 322 progeny registrations
- Belgian Blue: New Red (BB7638) with 306 progeny registrations;
- Salers: Knottown Roy (SA4604) with 410 progeny registrations;
- Simmental: Curaheen Earp (SI2152) with 258 progeny registrations;
- Simmental: Curaheen Gunshot (SI4147) with 182 progeny registrations;
- Simmental Leeherd Lynx (SI7491) with 177 progeny registrations.
The high number of sires coming from Gene Ireland "helps to drive the rate of genetic gain by building high-reliability indexes at a young age on the back of robust data recording", the ICBF said.
"Every spring and autumn, a new panel of young, high genetic merit AI sires are made available to suckler farmers for just €8/straw."
lntelagri Matteo ET was the most popular Angus sire on suckler cows, with 667 calves registered in that time. HW Lord Horatio (AA6682) was the second-most popular Angus AI sire on suckler cows with 344 calves registered to him, followed by Tubridmore Twomey (AA8472) with 294 calves registered in this time.
