Wondering which sires are used the most this year? Below is a list of the sires with the most serves recorded in the first half of 2019.
From Table 1 above, the most highly used ‘dairy on dairy’ sire in the first half of this year is FR2239 (IG) Diamond Anton. ‘Anton’ has 33,398 AI handheld serves recorded in the first half of this year. This does not take into account DIY serves so his actual usage will be higher in reality. Second on the list is FR2460 (IG) Nextgen PHC Eimer 557. There have been 31,088 AI handheld serves recorded from ‘Eimer’ in the first half of 2019. Third on the list is FR2298 (IG) Oldcastletown Ronaldo. ‘Ronaldo’ has 30,096 AI handheld serves recorded in the first half of 2019. All 10 of the ‘Top 10’ bulls are graduates of the ‘Dairy Gene Ireland’ program.
From Table 2 above, the most highly used ‘beef on dairy’ sire so far this year is HE2043 Solpoll 1 Kentucky Kid P HYF. ‘Kentucky Kid’ has 10,373 AI handheld serves recorded in the first half of this year in dairy herds. This does not take into account DIY serves so his actual usage will be higher in reality. He has a calving difficulty figure of 3.2%. Second on the list is DBZ Manitou De Belle Eau. There have been 9,538 AI handheld serves recorded from ‘De Belle Eau’ in dairy herds in the first half of 2019. He has a calving difficulty figure of 7.6%. Third on the list is KYA Cornamuckla Lord Hardy K222 . ‘Lord Hardy’ has 8,810 AI handheld serves recorded in dairy herds in the first half of 2019. He has a calving difficulty figure of 0.8%.
From Table 3 above, the most highly used ‘beef on beef’ sire so far this year is Limousin sire ZAG Castleview Gazelle. ‘Gazelle’ has 8,701 ‘beef on beef’ AI handheld serves recorded in the first half of this year. This does not take into account DIY serves so his actual usage will be higher in reality. ZAG was progeny tested through Gene Ireland Beef in 2014. Second on the list is Charolais sire FSZ Fiston. There have been 7,796 AI handheld serves recorded from ‘Fiston’ in beef herds in the first half of 2019. Third on the list is LM4217 ‘Moondharrig Knell’. ‘Knell’ has 4,626 AI handheld serves recorded in beef herds in the first half of 2019. LM4217 was also progeny tested through Beef Gene Ireland.
More statistics can be found on the ICBF Statistics page.