The EBI details of the top 75 bulls on the dairy active bull list are based on the March 2024 genetic evaluations calculated by ICBF. Semen from all of the Bulls has been indicated as being available by the various AI Companies, hence the term ‘Active’ Bull List.
The criteria for making the list is as follows:
- EBI reliability greater than or equal to 35%.
- Calving difficulty reliability greater than or equal to 70% (based on 23% heifer rel% and 77% cow rel%)
- At least 50 Irish calving records.
This year, there are now 73 Irish bred Bulls on the list. This continues to be highest number of Irish bred bulls that have ever been listed on the ICBF Dairy Active Bull List. Foreign sires dominated the active bull list in the early years. In 2001, there were just 2 Irish bred Bulls that were on the list. Over time, sires were increasingly sourced domestically. The fact that, today, over 90% of sires tested through the programme are Irish bred, which can be seen in the graph below, is an indication to the success of Dairy Gene Ireland.
This year’s list is made up of 73 Holstein/Friesian Bulls and 2 Jersey crossbred bull. The 75 Bulls have breeding values for EBI and the 7 Sub-Indices together with trait information on 10 Key Profit Traits. All of the bulls are genotyped and none of them are carriers of genetic defects e.g. CVM or BLAD.
The following table shows the trends in the countries of origins for Bulls in the top Bull Lists.
The 75 Bulls on the list have EBI’s that range from €375 down to €307. (57) of the Bulls on the list came through Gene Ireland. 69 of the bulls are ‘Genomically Selected’ (GS) bulls. 4 of them is daughter proven in Ireland ‘DP-IRL’ and 2 of them is Daughter Proven with Foreign Daughters ‘DP-INT’.
The Bulls which are ranked highest for each type of proof on the list are listed below:
Click here to view the current Dairy Active Bull List this breeding season.