The ICBF (Irish Cattle Breeding Federation) has published a list containing the most used beef AI sires in the first half of 2020.
The federation explained that the figures are based on calves born from January to June 2020 with a sire recorded.
647,698 beef calves (beef sire x beef dam) were born on Irish farms in the first six months of this year, with 109,840 are registered to beef AI sires, according to the ICBF.
This represents approximately 17% of all beef calves born, while 55% of progeny were registered to a stockbull with 27% approximately having no sire recorded.
Providing a list of ten sires, it said that these bulls account for 42.6% of progeny born in this period.
| AI Code | Name | Replacement Index (€) | Breed | Number of Progeny | Star Rating (Across Breed) | Terminal Index (€) | Star Rating (Across Breed) | Beef Cow Calving Difficulty % |
| ZAG | Castleview Gazelle |
117 |
LM |
10,438 |
5 | 125 | 4 | 3.4 |
| FSZ | Fiston | 133 | CH | 9,969 | 5 |
157 |
5 | 5.7 |
| LZF | Cavelands Fenian |
110 |
CH |
5,131 |
5 | 120 | 4 | 4.9 |
| EBY | Elderberry Galahad |
109 |
LM |
4,983 |
5 | 124 | 4 | 3.1 |
| LM4217 | Moondharrig Knell |
157 |
LM |
4,512 |
5 | 123 | 4 | 3.9 |
| LM2014 | Ewdenvale Ivor |
161 |
LM |
4,318 |
5 | 160 | 5 | 2.4 |
| FWO | Fleetwood |
51 |
CH |
2,269 |
2 | 136 | 5 | 5.6 |
| CH4159 | Knockmoyle10 Loki ET |
36 |
CH |
1,990 |
1 | 157 | 5 | 5.8 |
| KYA | Cornamuckla Lord Hardy K222 |
131 |
AA |
1,777 |
5 | 63 | 2 | 1.3 |
| CH2218 | Bivouac |
169 |
CH |
1,611 |
5 | 155 | 2 | 3.8 |
[Data source: ICBF]
High genetic merit sires
“It is evident that beef farmers are focusing on using bulls of high genetic merit combined with a high-reliability figure.”
“The average replacement index of the 10 bulls is €118 (5 stars across breed). Similarly, on the terminal index, the group average is quite impressive at €132 (5 stars across breed).”
