Who were the most popular beef sires used in Suckler herds this year? Below is a list of the sires with the most serves recorded during the first 6 months of the year (01/01/2024- 30/06/2024).  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 The Top 10 most used Beef bulls used on beef cows based on Total AI Handheld Serves

Table 1 Summary:
• The number one most used Beef bull this year is CH4321- Lapon, with 5,181 handheld serves recorded.
• The second most used beef bull this year is LM7416-Powerful proper, with 3,803 handheld serves recorded.
• The third most used beef bull this year is LM4217- Moondharrig Knell, with 2,642 handheld serves recorded.
• Out of the top 10 most used beef bulls, all of them were tested through the Beef G€N€ IR€LAND breeding Programme.
• There were a total of 74,050 beef serves recorded on handhelds during the first 6 months of the year. In the same period last year, there was 69,847 beef serves recorded on handhelds.

Table 2. The % of handheld serves by beef breeds used in beef herds (01/01/2024- 30/06/2024). 

Table 2 Summary:
• Limousin is the number one most used beef breed in suckler herds, with 29,100 handheld serves recorded.
• Charolais is the second most used beef breed in suckler herds, with 18,020 handheld serves recorded.
• Angus is the third most used beef breed in suckler herds, with 10,838 handheld serves recorded.
• There was a total of 1,115 beef bulls recorded on handhelds during the first 6 months of the year.