Knottown Roy (SA4604) is one of the latest editions to the Gene Ireland AI Panel. He has the highest Replacement Index on the current panel of bulls at €275. He is in the top percentiles on a number of traits including calving difficulty, milk and calving interval. He was selected by the Saler Gene Ireland committee having met all the required criteria. To be purchased for testing through the Gene Ireland programme, a bull must:
- Have a high Replacement Index.
- Be genotyped and performance recorded (herds must be participating in WHPR)
- Have a good phenotype (inspected by linear scorer)
- Be out of a dam which has good phenotype and good performance (dam also inspected by linear scorer).
Roy was purchased from the well-known Knottown Saler herd, run by the Fortune family in Co. Wexford. He is a son of the renowned French bull Beguin (SA4059). He was one of the highest performers in the herd’s 2016 calf crop, recording the second highest ADG (weight gain) and the highest docility score when the Knottown herd was performance recorded by ICBF in March 2017. Having been performance recorded and genotyped, it leaves him with a very high reliability, even before he has any progeny records. Table 1 details the highlights of Roy’s Euro-Star Index*:
Table 1. Euro-Star Index details of Knottown Roy
| Index/Trait | Index/Trait Value | Across Breed | |
| Stars | Rank | ||
| Replacement Index | €275 | 5 | Top 1% |
| Calving Difficulty | 2% | 5 | Top 2% |
| Docility | 0.14 | 5 | Top 6% |
| Carcass Weight | 20 kg | 5 | Top 28% |
| Daughter Milk | 14.5 kg | 5 | Top 1% |
| Daughter Calving Interval | -5.05 days | 5 | Top 2% |
*based on May 2018 ICBF evaluation
His dam, Knottown Kate, is one of the highest Replacement Index cows in the Fortune’s herd. She is an 8-year-old cow and has produced 7 calves to date with an average calving interval of 359 days. She has a mature weight of 644kg and is described by Richard Fortune as a “modest sized, hardworking, quiet cow with great milking ability”.
Semen from Knottown Roy is now available through the Gene Ireland programme. For more information on this bull, or any of the other bulls available, please click on the issuu link below. To order straws call ICBF on 023-8820452.