What are the most popular dairy and beef sires used in dairy herds this Spring? Below is a list of the sires with the most serves recorded during the first 6 months of the year (01/01/2023- 30/06/2023). The results are based on the analysis of insemination data collected from AI technicians linked to the ICBF database, through their AI handheld system.
Table 1 Summary:
• The number one most used dairy bull this year is FR8403 (IG) Aghernbridge Milton, with 20,270 handheld serves recorded.
• The second most used bull dairy bull this year is FR7929 (IG)Tankardsrock Teak, with 17,697 handheld serves recorded.
• The third most used bull dairy bull this year is FR6853 (IG)Knockenright Chessman, with 12,678 handheld serves recorded.
• Out of the top 20 most used dairy bulls, 17 of them were tested through the Dairy G€N€ IR€LAND breeding Programme.
• There was a total of 537,154 dairy serves recorded on handhelds during the first 6 months of the year.
• The top 20 bulls accounts for 35% of the total dairy serves recorded on handhelds.
Table 2 Summary:
• Holstein is the number one used breed, with 482,674 handheld serves recorded. The breed accounts for 90% of the total handheld serves recorded.
• Friesian is the second most used breed, with 20,192 handheld serves recorded. The breed accounts for 3.7% of the total handheld serves recorded.
• Jersey is the third most used breed, with 19,033 handheld serves recorded. The breed accounts for 3.5 % of the total handheld serves recorded.
• There were 1003 Holstein Friesian bulls, 150 Jersey bulls and 109 Friesian bulls used.
• There was a total of 1,525 dairy bulls recorded on handhelds during the first 6 months of the year.
Handheld AI Serves of Genomic Vs Daughter Proven Bulls
Over 78% of the dairy inseminations during the first 6 months of the year have been to young genomically selected (GS) bulls. This presented in Table 3, which shows the details of the number of inseminations from GS bulls compared to daughter proven (DP) bulls. The large uptake of GS bulls can be attributed to the difference genetic merit between these bulls and the daughter proven bulls. The average EBI of the GS bulls is €72 and €81 more than the Irish Daughter proven bulls (DP-IRL) and the International Daughter proven bulls (DP-INT) respectively. GS bulls are 3-4 years ahead of the daughter proven bulls. The analysis clearly highlights that’s farmers continue to have increased confidence in the young GS bulls to deliver more profitability on their farms in the future.
Graph 2 Summary:
• 85% of the recorded dairy AI handheld serves were to Irish bred bulls.
• 15% of the recorded dairy AI handheld serves were to foreign bulls.
Table 4 Summary:
• The number one most used beef bull in dairy herds this year is AA6682- Hw Lord Horatio V538, with 26,022 handheld serves recorded.
• The second most used beef bull in dairy herds this year is AA4631- Gabriel Pat 1949, with 23,865 handheld serves recorded.
• The third most used beef bull in dairy herds this year is HE6841- Goulding Poll 1 Zoro, with 21,006 handheld serves recorded.
• There were a total of 322,782 beef serves recorded on dairy cows from AI handhelds during the first 6 months of the year.
Table 5 Summary:
• Angus is the number one most used beef breed in dairy herds, with 163,591 handheld serves recorded.
• Hereford is the second most used beef breed in dairy herds, with 75,066 handheld serves recorded.
• Belgian Blue is the third most used beef breed in dairy herds, with 40,405 handheld serves recorded.
• There was a total of 653 beef bulls recorded on AI handhelds that were used in dairy herds during the first 6 months of the year.