Which dairy sires have been used most in 2026 so far?
As the use of artificial insemination (AI) winds down on dairy farms, which dairy and beef sires have been used the most in 2026?
The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), monitor and record AI usage through insemination records submitted by AI technicians on the ICBF AI handheld system.
According to that data, there has been 848,705 AI handheld serves in 2026, as of Friday June 12.
That is slightly down on the same time as last year, when 857,117 bulls had been recorded.
There was 614,527 serves recorded in May of this year, with a further 115,325 recorded in the first two weeks of June.
Dairy sires
From that data, ICBF have confirmed that the number one most used dairy bull so far in 2026 is IG Parkduv Magical (FR2534), who has 16,122 handheld serves recorded.
Parkduv Magical, who was sired by Oldcastletown Mojo, currently has an Economic Breeding Index (EBI) figure of €242.
With that is a €108 milk sub-index, which breaks into 40kg of milk at 14.96kg fat and 11.8kg of protein.
The genomic proofed bull has a fertility sub-index of €82 as well as a health sub-index of €11.
He has cleared the second most used sire (Johnswell Rory) by 2,940 serves.
However, when we look back on last year, the most used bull (Tankardsrock Teak) had 30,267 handheld serves recorded in the same time frame, 14,145 more than this year's top bull.
Considering the major restructure in last year's Active Bull List following the May evaluations, and again in last month's evaluations, it seems as if farmers are spreading AI usage out across a wider bull team to minimise risk.
The top 20 most-used dairy bulls to date in 2026 are as follows:
| Bull | No. of serves | EBI (€) | Milk (€) | Fertility (€) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. PARKDUV MAGICAL (FR2534) | 16,122 | 242 | 108 | 82 |
| 2. JOHNSWELL RORY (FR9289) | 13,182 | 221 | 89 | 61 |
| 3. TUOHY HISTORIC (FR8658) | 13,156 | 223 | 85 | 81 |
| 4. TINNAKILL GRANDSLAM (FR9016) | 12,056 | 229 | 99 | 36 |
| 5. MORTALSTOWN MATISSE (FR2500) | 12,012 | 226 | 106 | 74 |
| 6. BALLYDEHOB RINGO (FR9841) | 11,457 | 194 | 73 | 63 |
| 7. BUNACLOY FANTASY (FR2533) | 10,994 | 267 | 71 | 139 |
| 8. KILVURRA GRASSLEAF SRM (FR1958) | 10,994 | 265 | 101 | 92 |
| 9. CLOONIGNEY PINATUBO (FR5816) | 10,584 | 197 | 83 | 34 |
| 10. KILLAVALLA LINESMAN (FR1185) | 10,345 | 209 | 100 | 75 |
| 11. KNOCKSOUNA SWOOP (FR8388) | 9,074 | 218 | 84 | 106 |
| 12. CLOCHRUA MESSI (FR9358) | 8,825 | 224 | 102 | 49 |
| 13. DOONMANAGH PAULSON (FR9001) | 7,210 | 218 | 73 | 90 |
| 14. OLCASTLETOWN MOJO (FR8709) | 6,819 | 244 | 83 | 106 |
| 15. BALLYCONRA RHODIN (FR1985) | 6,397 | 230 | 86 | 98 |
| 16. TANKARDSROCK TEAK (FR7929) | 6,330 | 156 | 65 | 37 |
| 17. MAUDMOUNT FIREPOWER SRM (FR1840) | 5,718 | 280 | 112 | 86 |
| 18. DANGANBEG JUSTINTIME SRM (FR2587) | 5,392 | 221 | 89 | 83 |
| 19. BELLAMYS DM GALANT-ET S1F (FR9817) | 5,289 | 167 | 80 | 50 |
| 20. BUNACLOY DETROIT (FR1849) | 4,837 | 279 | 95 | 91 |
A lot of dairy AI serves will be finished up for the year besides for those serving cows this December for autumn calving, meaning that the top 20 list should not change drastically for the second half of the year.
It is clear from this list that farmers are continuing to push for positive milk and fertility figures, which backs up the trends AI companies have seen so far this year.
There has been plenty of dairy animals inseminated with beef straws so far this year, and plenty more to be done still as the focus switches towards the end of the breeding season.
The top 15 most-used beef sires on the dairy herd in 2026 (to date) are as follows:
| Bull name | Breed | No. Serves | Dairy Beef Index (DBI) | DBI Calving SI | DBI Beef SI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. HW LORD HORATIO V538 (AA6682) | AA | 15,002 | 157 | 44 | 107 |
| 2. ENLEVE DU BOIS DESNEUX (BB9373) | BB | 11,337 | 190 | 23 | 171 |
| 3. TUBRIDMORE TWOMEY ET (AA8472) | AA | 10,282 | 142 | 52 | 81 |
| 4. SOLPOLL 1 WATSON PP (HE9550) | HE | 9,207 | 139 | 20 | 111 |
| 5. INTELAGRI MATTEO E.T. (AA4089) | AA | 8,845 | 174 | 62 | 103 |
| 6. KNOCKMOUNTAGH VALENTINE (AA9661) | AA | 8,317 | 146 | 25 | 116 |
| 7. SHANAWAY VENGABUS (AA9607) | AA | 6,662 | 180 | 60 | 109 |
| 8. WESTELLEN BOSS Y929 (AA9860) | AA | 6,551 | 147 | 53 | 86 |
| 9. GABRIEL PAT 1949 (AA4631) | AA | 5,596 | 177 | 52 | 116 |
| 10. GOULDINGPOLL 1 NIJINSKY PP (HE9382) | HE | 5,530 | 121 | 11 | 102 |
| 11. DEELISH WINGMAN (AA1317) | AA | 5,119 | 121 | 47 | 69 |
| 12. SWANKY VAN GOGH (AA1317) | AA | 4,299 | 121 | 47 | 80 |
| 13. GABRIEL MOSSY 1727 (AA4235) | AA | 4,260 | 144 | 50 | 87 |
| 14. ORBI (CH6490) | CH | 4,187 | 147 | -32 | 189 |
| 15. MIDFORD 1 WHIZZBANG PP (HE9610) | HE | 3,946 | 114 | -9 | 122 |
Angus are clearly still driving dairy-beef, with the Angus sire HW Lord Horatio V538 currently the top used bull.
In the top 15 most used beef bulls, 10 of them are Angus, three Hereford, one Belgian Blue, and one Charolais.
