The ICBF bull search facility has had over 2.25 million individual hits for the year to date. This is an incredible statistic and shows just how much dairy and beef farmers, including people from the breeding industry value the bull search. The ICBF bull search gives users up to date genetic and progeny performance information on AI and stock bulls.
Impact of BDGP
Information from table one shows us that Beef sire searches year to date are in excess of 1.5 million. There was a big increase (over 85,000 hits) in beef sire searches between the months of April and May. This is most likely due to the introduction of the BDGP (Beef, Data and Genomics Programme) around this time. The number of beef sire searches per month have remained over 100,000 per month since April. From the data in table one we can already see the positive benefits that the BDGP is having on the industry. With beef sire searches at an all time high for both AI and stockbulls, this shows us that users are showing more interest in genetic indexes and with the increased profitability that comes from higher index animals (4 and 5 star), these increases are really encouraging for the industry.
Table 1
Breakdown of usage of ICBF Bull Search facility (for year to date).
Data from table 1 indicates that there has also been an increase in the number of Dairy bulls searched in 2015 vs 2014. This high level of interest in the bull 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 bull 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.
High Level of Interest in Stock Bulls
As can be seen from Table 1, the number of stock bulls searched is very high. Stock bull searches made up 43% of total searches in the bull search facility. This is an extremely high number considering the bull search was initially designed to support the querying of data on AI bulls.
As a result bull search users can make a more informed choice when it comes to selecting a stock bull for breeding. The bull 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.
Tables 2 and 3 below indicate the top 10 bulls for beef and dairy searched in 2015.
The bull search facility is located on the bottom right of the front page or you can search any bull now by clicking here.
Fiston (FSZ) was searched more often that any other beef sire in 2015.
Table 2
| Top 10 Most Searched Beef Sires 2015 | |||
| RANK | BULL | BULL NAME | COUNT |
| 1 | FSZ | FISTON | 5,597 |
| 2 | ZAG | CASTLEVIEW GAZELLE | 5,442 |
| 3 | ADX | ARDLEA DAN | 5,302 |
| 4 | HCA | HAUTECLAIR | 5,102 |
| 5 | WGE | WILODGE CERBERUS | 5,100 |
| 6 | KJB | BROOKLANDS F0959 | 5,085 |
| 7 | APZ | CURAHEEN APOSTLE ET | 4,621 |
| 8 | CF52 | DOONALLY NEW | 4,593 |
| 9 | LGL | LISNAGRE ELITE (ET) | 4,393 |
| 10 | ONI | ON-DIT | 4,372 |
Gaddagh Cuddy Reeks (GZY) was searched more often than any other dairy sire in 2015.
Table 3
| Top 10 Most Searched Dairy Sires 2015 | |||||
| RANK | BULL | BULL NAME | COUNT | ||
| 1 | GZY | GADDAGH CUDDY REEKS | 9,946 | ||
| 2 | PBM | (IG) BALLINABORTA PRIMO | 4,283 | ||
| 3 | WLY | IMLEACH LUCKY WHISTLER | 4,200 | ||
| 4 | LWR | (IG) LONGVIEW RELIABLE | 4,013 | ||
| 5 | HZB | (IG) BALLYDEHOB PAT 1356 | 3,889 | ||
| 6 | SEW | SEAROAD AWS PAMELA 1 | 3,776 | ||
| 7 | LHZ | (IG) LAURAGH EVERT | 3,297 | ||
| 8 | KSK | (IG) BALLYBRIDE SHERLOCK | 2,902 | ||
| 9 | BGJ | BAGWORTH PF GRANDEUR S1F | 2,852 | ||
| 10 | HMY | HIGHMOUNT KENNY | 2,751 | ||