Table: What was the most popular sire breed for Irish calves in 2025?
The most popular sire breed for Irish calves in 2025 has been revealed.
More than one in four calves born in Ireland in 2025 were sired by an Angus bull.
That's according to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's (DAFM's) recently released 2025 Animal Identification and Movement Services (AIMS) Bovine Statistics Report.
According to the report, just over 623,000 or 27.3% of the calves born in Ireland in 2026 were sired by an Angus bull. Over 502,000 of these were bred off Friesian cows.
2025 marks the first year Angus was the most popular sire breed in Ireland, with Friesian being the previous record holder in 2024.
The table below details the breed composition of Irish calves born in 2025 (scroll right to view full table):
| Angus Dam | Aubrac Dam | Belgian Blue Dam | Charolais Dam | Friesian Dam | Hereford Dam | Jersey Dam | Limousin Dam | Montbelliarde Dam | Salers Dam | Shorthorn Dam | Simmental Dam | Speckle Park Dam | Wagyu Dam | Other Dam | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angus Sire: | 42,652 | 795 | 2,369 | 5,838 | 502,260 | 8,101 | 22,159 | 13,799 | 2,462 | 1,225 | 4,007 | 9,297 | 428 | 29 | 7,642 | 623,063 |
| Aubrac Sire: | 937 | 3,492 | 260 | 652 | 16,836 | 599 | 879 | 1,650 | 401 | 241 | 242 | 1,044 | 41 | – | 671 | 27,945 |
| Belgian Blue Sire: | 1,606 | 153 | 2,588 | 2,295 | 51,830 | 1,418 | 5,357 | 11,073 | 711 | 612 | 740 | 3,121 | 106 | 1 | 2,000 | 83,611 |
| Charolais sire: | 14,805 | 1,802 | 5,475 | 68,691 | 24,022 | 16,955 | 2,535 | 67,393 | 440 | 8,634 | 5,833 | 22,628 | 498 | 11 | 3,468 | 243,190 |
| Friesian Sire | 1,234 | 34 | 151 | 45 | 533,920 | 659 | 21,647 | 239 | 1,167 | 17 | 855 | 2,443 | 26 | 4 | 3,837 | 566,278 |
| Hereford Sire | 3,048 | 185 | 486 | 1,228 | 232,664 | 14,753 | 10,868 | 2,564 | 1,099 | 266 | 1,681 | 3,311 | 119 | 8 | 3,145 | 275,425 |
| Jersey Sire | 36 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8,376 | 13 | 5,470 | 1 | – | – | 9 | 14 | – | – | 290 | 14,215 |
| Limousin Sire: | 17,755 | 2,108 | 13,705 | 35,109 | 53274 | 18,690 | 1,734 | 131,760 | 1,039 | 4,797 | 6,349 | 22,487 | 805 | 11 | 4,965 | 314,588 |
| Montbelliarde Sire: | 21 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1,907 | 8 | 37 | 11 | 1,971 | – | 17 | 144 | – | – | 114 | 4,238 |
| Salers Sire: | 508 | 151 | 254 | 1,199 | 2,111 | 361 | 58 | 1,624 | 41 | 2,688 | 262 | 575 | 46 | 1 | 235 | 10,114 |
| Shorthorn Sire: | 863 | 85 | 266 | 753 | 5,565 | 894 | 469 | 1,380 | 182 | 261 | 5,711 | 805 | 89 | 11 | 654 | 17,988 |
| Simmental Sire: | 1,478 | 147 | 556 | 2,240 | 25,997 | 1,823 | 953 | 4,374 | 793 | 446 | 778 | 18,387 | 67 | 2 | 1,245 | 59,286 |
| Speckle Park Sire: | 154 | 9 | 35 | 40 | 4,968 | 99 | 730 | 131 | 96 | 23 | 43 | 132 | 314 | – | 165 | 6,939 |
| Wagyu Sire: | 221 | 6 | 9 | 21 | 6,444 | 30 | 257 | 21 | 36 | 9 | 53 | 29 | 1 | 219 | 85 | 7,441 |
| Other Sire: | 934 | 195 | 547 | 923 | 8,330 | 517 | 818 | 2,467 | 262 | 327 | 467 | 1,240 | 80 | 10 | 11,669 | 28,786 |
| Total | 86,252 | 9,165 | 26,706 | 119,040 | 1,478,504 | 64,920 | 73,971 | 238,487 | 10,700 | 19,546 | 27,047 | 85,657 | 2,620 | 307 | 40,185 | 2,283,107 |
For context, in 2015, 14.2% or almost 322,000 of the 2,263,767 calves born in Ireland were sired by an Angus bull.
In 2025, the second most popular sire breed in Ireland was Friesian, with just over 566,000 calves sired by Friesian bulls in 2025.
Limousin was the third most popular sire breed in 2025 with 314,500 calves sired by the breed last year.
Hereford was the third most popular sire breed with almost 275,500 calves born to Hereford bulls in 2025, followed by Charolais with over 243,000 calves registered to the sire breed in 2025.
Changing trends in national dairy and suckler cow numbers is having an influence on sire breed usage in both the dairy and suckler sectors.
Growth in the national dairy herd over the past decade seen more emphasis placed on using dairy breed sires on dairy cows.
However, as the growth in the national dairy herd numbers has been levelling off in recent years, more emphasis is being placed on using beef breed sires on dairy cows in recent years.
Beef factory breed bonuses available on eligible Angus and Hereford sired cattle have seen more demand for these types of cattle and a rise in their usage in recent years, particularly on dairy cows.
Interestingly, Wagyu sires have made it onto the list for 2025, albeit at a low level with 7,441 calves sired by Wagyu bulls last year.
Stay tuned to Agriland for further updates and analysis from DAFM's 2025 AIMS Bovine Statistics Report.
