The ICBF animal search facility has had over 4.26 million individual hits year to date for 2019 and is on track to reach over 4.44 milion hits by the close of 2019 . This is an impressive statistic and shows just how much dairy and beef farmers, including people from the breeding industry value the animal search.The ICBF animal search gives users up to date genetic and progeny performance information on AI bulls, stock bulls and females located in a BDGP or HerdPlus herd.
As can be seen from table 1 the total number of searches carried out on the ICBF animal search in 2019 was over 4.26 million. This is an increase of over 100,000 hits verses 2018 figures and is exspected to be over 280,000 more than 2018 by the end of 2019. This was the third full calendar year that the ‘ICBF Animal Search’ has been available since changing from the ‘Bull Search’ in 2016. This allows users to search for both male and female animals (in BDGP or HerdPlus herd). There has been over 900,000 female searches carried out in 2019 which is up over 180,000 compared to 2018 figures.
Table 2
Detailed breakdown of usage of ICBF Animal Search facility (Males only).
Information from table 2 shows us that Beef sire searches for 2019 were just under 2.3 million. 2019 has seen a slight decrease in beef sire searches but in reality it’s likely unchanged or even higher as there is still over 10 days left in 2019. With beef sire searches remaining largely unchanged for both AI and stockbulls, this shows us that users are continuing to show interest in genetic indexes and with the increased profitability that comes from higher index animals (4 and 5 star), these figures are really encouraging for the industry.
Data from table 2 indicates that there has been an slight increase in the number of Dairy bulls searched in 2019 vs 2018. There has been over 1 million dairy searches carried out in 2019 so far with more to come before the close of year.
This high level of interest in the animal search facility confirms the confidence that users have in Dairy EBI (Economic Breeding Index) and Beef Eurostar as a means to accurately rank AI and stock bulls. The animal search facility displays animal data including identification, ancestry, genetic and performance data. This facility allows anyone to check all available details on any given pedigree registered bull and as of 2016 females located in a BDGP or HerdPlus herd.
High Level of Interest in Stock Bulls
As can be seen from Table 2, the number of stock bulls searched is very high. Stock bull searches made up 49% of total male searches in the animal search facility. This is an extremely high number considering the animal search was initially designed to support the querying of data on AI bulls.
As a result animal search users can make a more informed choice when it comes to selecting a stock bull for breeding. The animal search gives a full breakdown of each bull’s breeding potential including index, reliability, progeny and ancestry performance information as well as a host of other useful information for selecting a stock bull.
ICBF Animal Search App
The ICBF animal search app is now available to download free on Apple and Android devices. This app allows the user to search for EBI and €uro-Star figures on the animals in the ICBF Database. The HerdPlus Animal Search app allows users to search the genetic index figures (EBI and €uro-Star)on animals in the ICBF database. Animals must be located in herds signed up to the HerdPlus service or be participating in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme. This app helps herd-owners make more informed decisions when buying or selling animals as well as when breeding. It also contains the Active AI bulls in order of genetic index.
The animal search facility is located on the left of the ICBF homepage or you can search any bull now by clicking here.