The EBI details of the 75 bulls on the list are based on the March 2022 genetic evaluations computed by ICBF. Semen from all of the Bulls has been indicated as being available by the various AI Companies, hence the term ‘Active’ Bull List.
The criteria for making the list is as follows:
- EBI reliability greater than or equal to 35%.
- Calving difficulty reliability greater than or equal to 70% (based on 23% heifer rel% and 77% cow rel%)
- At least 50 Irish calving records.
2022 List – Analysed
This year there are now 73 Irish bred Bulls on the list. This means that 97% of the bulls on our national Dairy Bull list were bred here in Ireland. This is a new record in that it is the highest number of Irish bred bulls that have ever been listed on the ICBF Dairy Active Bull List.
This wasn’t always the case. In 2001 there were just 2 Bulls on the list bred here in Ireland. Holland, France, New Zealand & America have generally been where most of the Bulls on the list have come from. This trend started to change around 2009 when the first of the Gene Ireland Irish progeny tested bulls started to come through.
This year’s list is made up of 74 Holstein/Friesian Bulls and 1 Jersey crossbred bull.
The 75 Bulls have breeding values for EBI and the 7 Sub-Indices together with trait information on 10 Key Profit Traits. All of the bulls are genotyped and none of them are carriers of genetic defects e.g CVM or BLAD.
The following table shows the trends in the countries of origins for Bulls in the top Bull Lists.
The 75 Bulls on the list have EBI’s that range from €368 down to €292. 85% (64) of the Bulls on the list came through Gene Ireland. 73 of the bulls are ‘Genomically Selected’ (GS) bulls. 1 of them is daughter proven in Ireland ‘DP-IRL’ and 1 of them is Daughter Proven with foreign daughters ‘DP-INT’.
The Bulls which are ranked highest for each type of proof on the list are listed below:
