The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) has revealed the most popular artificial insemination (AI) beef sires used on the suckler herd this year.
The results are based on AI servings recorded during the first six months of the year and are compiled from the insemination data collected from AI technicians linked to the ICBF database, through handheld systems.
According to the ICBF, there was a total of 72,103 beef serves recorded on handhelds during the first six months of the year.
The table below shows the top 10 beef-breed bulls used on beef-sired cows, based on total AI handheld serves in the first six months of 2022:
Rank AI bull Name Breed Replacement Index No. Serves 1 CH4321 LAPON CH €99 6,742 2 LM4217 MOONDHARRIG KNELL LM €160 4,819 3 ZAG CASTLEVIEW GAZELLE LM €109 4,689 4 LM2014 EWDENVALE IVOR LM €176 2,522 5 EBY ELDERBERRY GALAHAD LM €112 2,219 6 LM7416 POWERFUL PROPER LM €138 2,022 7 AA4089 INTELAGRI MATTEO E.T. (ET) AA €156 1,996 8 CH7503 CLOONRADOON RICKY CH €94 1,845 9 AA4640 HW FARGHAL T516 AA €114 1,463 10 CH6490 ORBI CH €94 1,362
As the table above indicates, a Charolais bull was the most popular AI bull this year with the bull CH4321 Lapon recording a total of 6,742 handheld serves.
A Limousin bull was the second most popular AI beef bull this year, with LM4217-Moondharrig Knell recording 4,819 handheld serves.
Knell was also the most-used bull in 2021.
The third most popular beef bull this year was ZAG- Castleview Gazelle, with 4,689 handheld serves recorded.
Out of the top 10 most-used beef bulls, nine were tested through the beef G€N€ IR€LAND breeding programme.
AI usage by bull breed
The ICBF data indicates a strong preference among suckler farmers for continental breeds – namely Charolais and Limousin.
The table below shows the percentage of handheld AI serves breed type used on beef-sired cows in the first six months of 2022 (scroll left to right to view the complete table if on mobile):
Bull Breed LM CH AA BB SI HE SH SA AU BA PT Other No. serves 26,810 18,155 10,423 5,104 3,859 2,672 1,446 1,430 1,127 352 226 499 % Total 37.2% 25.2% 14.5% 7.1% 5.4% 3.7% 2.0% 2.0% 1.6% 0.5% 0.3% 0.7%
According to the ICBF data, Limousin was the most popular AI bull breed used on suckler cows, with 26,810 handheld serves recorded.
Charolais was the second most popular breed of AI bull with 18,155 handheld serves recorded and Angus was the third most-used AI beef sire in suckler herds, with 10,423 handheld serves recorded.
There was a total of 1,090 beef bulls recorded on handhelds during the first six months of 2022.