Beef Breeding Journal 2015-2016

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Introduction The ‘ICBF Beef Breeding Journal’ is an annual publication produced by ICBF. It covers the most recent developments in ICBF beef breeding activities as well as acting as a source of reference material for various frequently asked facts & figures.

Contents €uro-Stars explained .....................................................................................................................................2 Breeding for the Stars ...................................................................................................................................15 Milk & Fertility Focus.....................................................................................................................................19 Beef Gene Ireland .........................................................................................................................................28 New AI Codes...............................................................................................................................................34 ICBF Bull Search...........................................................................................................................................37 Tully – 40 years old! .....................................................................................................................................38 Beef Breed Statistics.....................................................................................................................................47 Limousin Pedigree Breeder, John O’Reilly, Rathmoyle, Co.Kilkenny.

Pedigree Hereford cow ‘Ballyaville Portia’, the dam of Gene Ireland Bull ‘HE2148’. She is a 5 star cow with an average calving interval of 364 days after 12 calves.

Limousin AI Sire ‘GWO’ ‘Castleview Gringo ET’ in his pen at the NCBC bull stud at Ballyvourisheen, Mallow, Co.Cork.

AI Bulls feeding at Dovea AI Centre, Thurles, Co.Tipperary.

Bulls being finished on the farm of Gene Ireland participant Ger Dineen, Kilnamartyra, Macroom, Co.Cork.

Aberdeen Angus Gene Ireland young bull: ‘Liss Barborosa M307 R’ (OBF).

Nuala Hourihane, Secretary of the Irish Charolais Society & recipient of the FBD Women & Agriculture Lifetime Achievement award 2015.

Commercial cattle at the Tully Beef Performance Test Centre, Tully, Co.Kildare.

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

€uro-Stars Explained Overview The aim of this article is to provide answers to the following frequently asked questions about the €uro-Stars that ICBF produces.

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Who is ICBF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 How can ICBF evaluate my animals’ when they have never seen them? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What is reliability %?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What is a genetic index? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What is genomics? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 What are the Replacement & Terminal indexes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 What are €uro-Stars? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 How did my pedigree bull get his €uro-Stars? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Why do the €uro-Stars of my bull keep changing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 What extra performance will a 5 Star cow give? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Why does one of my best cow’s only have 1 star?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 If I mate a 5 star bull to a 1 star cow, will I get a 3 star calf? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Where can I see an animal’s €uro-Stars? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 How do I improve the €uro-Stars of my stock?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 How do you read a catalogue page?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

1. Who is ICBF? Ans: ICBF stands for the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation.

It is an Organisation which co-ordinates cattle breeding activities in Ireland e.g. Genetic Indexes, progeny testing etc.

2. How can ICBF evaluate my animals when they have never even seen them?

Ans: You will have recorded a certain amount of information on your own animals e.g. Calf Registration data etc.

However, your cattle will also have had data recorded on them elsewhere e.g. marts weights, all of which will have been stored in the ICBF database.

So, even without having actually seen your cattle, ICBF is able to give your animals ratings based on the data that is stored in their database.

Carcass Data

Weight Data

ICBF Database

Death Data

AI Data

Calving Data

3. What is reliability %?

Reliability % – Explained Reliability % Range Comment Bull Type Explanation 0-20% Low Young Bull €uro – Stars mostly based on those of the animal's Parents & Grandparents.

Low-‐Medium 20-50% Young Bull €uro – Stars influenced by data recorded on the animal (Liveweight, Milk Score etc).

50-90% Medium-High AI Sire/Stockbull €uro – Stars increasingly affected by the performances of an animal's offspring. > 90% High AI Sire €uro – Stars dominated by the performances of an animal's offspring.

Reliability % is an indication as to how confident ICBF can be about the genetic index for a particular animal. Lots of progeny performance recorded (weighed etc) alongside lots of other animals, across large numbers of herds is what increases an animal’s reliability % figure.

4. What is a Genetic Index?

Ans: A Genetic Index is the end result of a series of routine steps known as a ‘Genetic Evaluation Run’. For example, for a Stockbull, a genetic evaluation run will identify all of the calves of a Bull and compare their performance records to those of the other animals reared alongside them in the same herd. Any Genomic (DNA) data together with records from relatives of the bull are also included. Some traits have more of an impact than others on the resulting index, simply because they are more valuable e.g. ‘Liveweight’ is a more valuable trait than ‘Coat Colour’.

+

+ Performance Data

Ancestry Data

= Genomic Data

Genetic Index

The Genetic Index is expressed in €uro’s as the goal of this process is to estimate how profitable an animal is for breeding. When mated, a Bull or cow will only ever transmit half of their genes to the resulting calf.

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Example: A Bull with a Replacement Index of €100, if mated to a cow with an index of €200, is expected to sire a daughter with a ‘Replacement Index’ of €150 (€100+€200 / 2 = €150). This means that she will be €150 more profitable than the average Irish suckler cow.

x Replacement Index

Replacement Index

€100

€200 Replacement Index

€150

5. What is Genomics?

Ans: Genomics includes the DNA of an animal (from tissue, hair, blood or semen) in addition to other performance data on relatives, in its €uro-Star calculation.

Traditional Breeding 7 year old bull

x

Genomics 1 day old bull calf

★★★★★ Reliability: 50%

7 year old bull

★★★★★ Reliability: 70%

Calving, Weight, Carcass, Milk & Fertility performance from his progeny increases the reliability of his €uro-Stars.

DNA extracted from his hair sample tells us how his future progeny are likely to perform. This is ‘Genomic’s’.

x

★★★★★ Reliability: 90%

When he later becomes a breeding bull, he will add to his figures and increase his reliability % further.

Advantages of Genomics Higher reliability €uro-Stars: Genotyping increases reliability % figures even before the animal has produced any offspring.

Parentage verification: A genotyped animal can have its Sire & Dam confirmed.

Breed verification: Genotyping will be able to identify an animal’s breed makeup.

Genetic diseases: An animal’s carrier status for a number of diseases and major genes (e.g. Myostatin) is also possible.

Traceability: Genotyping ensures that from birth there is full traceability of every meat sample directly back to the animal.

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

With Traditional Breeding - for an animal’s figures to become more accurate, you must wait until it expresses its genes through its progeny. With Genomics – an animal’s genes are analysed and more accurate figures calculated at birth.

6. What are the Replacement & Terminal Indexes?

Ans: In Ireland we have 2 main beef ‘Genetic Indexes’ – ‘Replacement’ & ‘Terminal’. These 2 indexes have grouped traits together depending on their importance for achieving an overall goal.

6.1 The Replacement Index estimates how suitable females will be for calving ability, milk & fertility and ultimately being good low maintenance suckler cows.

The traits that a suckler cow will need to be good at are grouped together. They each then carry a different weighting in the index depending on how economically important they are.

6.2 The Terminal Index estimates how profitable an animal’s progeny will be for liveweight, carcass conformation and ultimately being finished for slaughter themselves.

Fertility 23%

Calving Traits 16%

Feed Intake 16%

Docility 4% Carcass Traits 56% Milk 18%

Calving Traits 26%

Beef Traits 21% Feed intake of Cow and Calf 18%

Figure 1: Traits & their weightings in the ICBF ‘Replacement Index’.

Docility 2%

Figure 2: Traits & their weightings in the ICBF ‘Terminal Index’.

Given the focus that is now being given to improving the milk & fertility of our national beef herd, it is the ‘Replacement Index’ that gets examined more closely than a bull’s ‘Terminal’ index

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

7. What are €uro-Stars?

Ans: The actual €uro-Stars just make the €uro Index values visually easy to understand. The €uro-Stars show where the animal’s genetic index ranks (top 20%, bottom 20% etc). For example – the index values from the August 2015 evaluation run go from values below €-50 all the way up to values reaching nearly €180. All the €uro-Stars do is cut this range up into 5 categories:

★ ✘

★★

★★★

★★★★

€33

€45

€74

An Animal with an Index value under €33 is in the bottom 20% and is given 1 star

★★★★★ ✘ €98

An Animal with an Index value over €98 is in the top 20% and is given 5 stars

• Within breed stars are for ranking purebred animals against other purebreds from the same breed.

Genetic Index is in the top 20% – E.g. a purebred Limousin bull’s within breed stars tells you where his genetic index ranks him amongst all other purebred limousin animals.

Genetic Index is in the top 40% • Across breed stars are for ranking an animal’s genetic index against Average Genetic Index animals from all of the other breeds.

Genetic Index is in the bottom 40% – Commercial (non purebred) animals will only get ‘Across Breed’ stars Genetic Index is in the bottom 20% as they are made up of many different breeds.

€uro-Star Rankings ★★★★★ 5 Stars ★★★★ 4 Stars ★★★

3 Stars

★★

2 Stars

★

1 Star

8. How did my pedigree bull get his €uro-Stars?

Ans: Stripping away all the technical jargon & scientific terminology attached to ‘Genetic Evaluations’, such as ‘correlations’ and ‘matrixes’, which can often be offputting – the easiest way to understand the process that ICBF follows when producing €uro-Stars is to think of the general process that a cattle judge will go through at a show before picking a winner.

Take a class of bulls for example: 1.

2.

3.

All of the bulls in that class will be of a similar age.

Particular parts of the animal will be deemed more important by the judge than others e.g. Width of chest v tail length.

All the bulls will then be ranked from 1st to last and the rosettes handed out.

So although no data is being inputted into a computer, data about each animal is being stored in the judge’s mind.

Judging in progress at an Irish Hereford Society sale in Kilmallock in 2015.

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Now take the same class of bulls in terms of how their €uro-Star figures are calculated if they were all bred in the same herd.

1.

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They are firstly assigned to groups depending on their age & sex, so that similar to the showring, they are treated fairly & not compared to animals that are a lot older or younger.

They are compared against each other for traits of economic importance e.g. calving survey, liveweight & docility.

The extra 3 steps that the €uro-Stars process takes at this stage are; a. To take into account the €uro-Stars of a bull’s relatives. So it would go in a bull’s favour if his Sire was already known to be superior for a particular trait. b. If a bull has sired calves, then the performance of these calves throughout their lives (weights, calving intervals of daughters etc) is also factored into their sire’s €uro-Stars. c. Take a DNA sample from each animal, analyse the gene sequences and include this information in the genetic evaluation – otherwise known as ‘Genomics’.

The results of the above steps are then expressed in the form of an index e.g. €100.

They are then ranked from 1st to last based on this index figure.

Finally, the €uro-Stars are put beside the index figure. The €uro-Stars are just a way of The ICBF database acts as making the breeding values visually easier to understand (no different to a rosettes in ‘the judge’ when €urothe showring).

The ICBF database then stores all of these rankings and breeding values so as over time Stars are being calculated! an increasingly accurate picture as to how a bloodline is performing is built up.

9. Why do the €uro-Stars of my bull keep changing?

Ans: This is probably one of the most common questions about the €uro-Star system. ICBF has a large computer, called a database, which receives information about animals on a daily basis. Data such as calving surveys, weights, carcass records and death dates are sent to ICBF from farmers, weight recorders, Linear Scorers, Marts & Factories etc.

ICBF takes all of this information out of their database 3 times a year and runs it through its genetic evaluation system (as explained in the previous answer). The new information that will have gone into the ICBF database since the previous run is then reflected in a change to the €uro-Stars of animals connected to that data. It could be that a full brother of your bull has been found to be very hard calving in another herd – this will then affect your bull’s rating for calving difficulty. So it is crucial to remember that the €uro-Stars of your bull are not just affected by the progeny that he sires on your farm.

Gene Ireland bull ‘Bondi Jacob’ (CH2159) pictured at birth through to him in quarantine, prior to semen collection. His figures will change depending on how his parents figures move. His figures will also change based on what data is recorded on him (linears scores & weights). However, the big change in his figures will happen as data is recorded on his progeny. He was bred by Peter Conlon, Moynalty, Carrickmacross, Co.Monaghan.

‘The genetic evaluation process is actually quite similar to the process that is followed in a showring when cattle are being judged’ 7

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 The following graphic shows a typical example of how a Young Pedigree Beef Bull’s €uro-Stars can change over time in Ireland:

Your Bull is born Feb 1st 2015 & receives a 4 Star rating based on his Parents €uro-Stars at that time.

Bull is scored & weighed & outperforms herdmates so his figures rise to make him a 5 star bull when you buy him.

Your bull’s Sire is found to be very hard calving.

This affects your bull’s stars and makes him a 3 Star bull.

Your bull’s own calves are easily born & have good growth rates. He goes up to 4 Stars.

Your bull’s progeny have better carcasses than their herdmates.

He goes up to 5 Stars.

Your bull’s daughters have more difficulty calving than their herdmates.

He goes down to 4 Stars.

Your bull’s daughters are found to have more milk than their herdmates.

He goes up to 5 Stars.

★★★★★

★★★★ Genomics will protect a bull more from these kinds of changes

★★★

★★

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Dec-22

Apr-22

Aug-22

Dec-21

Apr-21

Aug-21

Dec-20

Apr-20

Aug-20

Dec-19

Apr-19

Aug-19

Dec-18

Apr-18

Aug-18

Dec-17

Apr-17

Aug-17

Dec-16

Apr-16

Aug-16

Dec-15

Apr-15

Aug-15

★

Your bull’s Reliability % will increase over time.

2022

Diagram 1: Illustration as to how a pedigree bull’s proof can change over time. €uro-Stars changing are a consequence of having a highly integrated database which is receiving data on animals & their relatives from a wide range of sources. It is only right that the most uptodate view of how a bull is breeding is reflected to farmers so as they can make the most accurate decision. If a bull’s figures were only based on a small group of progeny that were weighed and assessed once and his figures were ‘fixed’ forever – this might not be a very fair sample of his genes and may inaccurately set his figures too high or too low.

Constantly adding to a bulls progeny count allows a bull to fully express his genetic potential.

Yes it can be frustrating to see a bull’s figures fall but ultimately we are left with the most accurate picture of how a bull is breeding thus allowing farmers to make the most accurate breeding decision. Genomics will add to this accuracy and result in bull’s figures fluctuating less frequently.

The illustration in diagram 1 shows how a pedigree bull’s €uro-Stars could change over time but the same principles holds true for all animals whereby €uro-Stars change overtime as more data is recorded on animals that are related to each other.

‘It is crucial to remember that the €uro-Stars of your bull are not just affected by the progeny that he sires on your farm’ 8

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

10. What extra performance will a 5 star cow give?

Ans: When ICBF groups nearly 100,000 suckler cows based on their €uro-Star indexes it was found that, on average, 5 star cows; 1. Produce more calves, go back in calf quicker and survive longer.

2. Have more milk & rear calves with better growth rates.

3. Produce cattle which finish earlier with heavier carcasses.

5 Star v 1 Star Cows BDGP Cows

Fertility

Milk

Carcass

ICBF Replacement Number of €uro-Stars Index cows

Number of Calvings

Age at 1st Calving

Calving Interval

% Alive after 7 years

Growth of Calves

Farmer Milk Score

Carcass Weight of progeny

Age at slaughter of progeny

★★★★★

€124

25,311

4.33

971 days

399 days

72%

1.17

4.11

363 kgs

752 days

★★★★

€85

19,776

4.03

988 days

405 days

66%

1.12

3.86

359 kgs

772 days

★★★

€64

16,020

3.82

1000 days

409 days

62%

1.09

3.75

358 kgs

784 days

★★

€44

16,823

3.71

1007 days

413 days

59%

1.09

3.69

358 kgs

783 days

★

€8

19,793

3.46

1022 days

-21 days

1.06

3.48

359 kgs

+0.87

-51 days

52%

Difference

+20%

+10%

+15%

+4kgs

-39 days

420 days

Above analysis was performed on the 97,723 suckler cows that were born in 2008, in herds that joined the BDGP in 2015.

791days

Table 1: Comparison of the on-farm performances of 5 star v 1 star cows.

5 Star cows calve regularly….

Tag

Sex DOB

Sire

IE211063442600

F

12-JAN-15

SEV

IE211063442435

F

26-JAN-14

SEV

IE211063492258

M

28-JAN-13

HUZ

IE211063462123

M

04-FEB-12

IE381160550065

IE211063441957

M

10-FEB-11

IE381160550065

IE211063451751

F

07-FEB-10

IE381160550065

IE211063421674

M

22-FEB-09

BUF

IE211063471547

M

17-MAR-08

IE211117690346

IE211063431320

M

07-FEB-07

HKG

IE211063481143

M

15-JAN-06

HKG

The cow above is in the Teagasc Kildalton suckler herd and as her calving records show, she is an extremely regular calver.

She has an average calving interval of 365 days. Sired by ‘Hymour’, she has a ‘Replacement index’ of €156 (5 Stars), which places her in the top 5%. She is pictured above with her January 2014 born ‘SEV’ Simmental heifer calf. She had another ‘SEV’ heifer calf in January 2015!

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

A 5 Star cow on paper…

And in the flesh…

Pictured left: Niall Kilrane speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal/ICBF/Bord Bia stand at the 2015 Ploughing Championships.

The benefits of breeding high replacement index stock was one of the main messages.

The 5 Star cow, calf and replacement heifer were kindly supplied by Sean Evans, Ballinrath, Edenderry, Co.Offaly

• • • • •

5 Star Suckler Cow She has had 6 calves Average Calving Interval of 356 days 4 U Grade progeny – combined revenue of €6,177 February born heifer calf by a Maternally strong Stockbull

• • • •

5 Star Replacement Heifer Sired by a 5 Star AI Sire ‘HUR’ Her Dam’s Average Calving Interval is 361 days Due to calve at 26mths old to an easy calving Limo AI Sire

‘The Gene Ireland Maternal Bull Breeder programme and the BDGP are crucial for correction of the negative maternal trend in Ireland’ 10

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

11. Why does one of my best cows only have 1 star?

Ans: Similar to question 9 about why a bull’s figures change, it is again crucial to remember that the €uro-Stars of your cow are not just affected by her performance and the progeny that she has produced in your herd. Her performance is included in her own €uro-Star evaluation, however the performances of all of her half-sisters and other relatives also has a large bearing on her figures.

Example: Your Limousin cow at home, with tag ending ‘293’ is your best suckler cow. She is doing everything that could be asked from a Suckler Cow in terms of her fertility and the quality of calf that she rears, however she is still only a 1 star cow! The reason for this is due to the poor performance of all of her half-sisters in other herds, which you do not know about.

The €uro-Star rating that your cow receives is a reflection as to how that entire bloodline is performing. Overall, the daughters of your cow’s sire ‘Ocean’ (OCX) have poor fertility and are producing poor quality cattle. This is reflected in his 1 star €uro-Star rating and his index of €-26. However, even if the majority of daughters of a bull have poor milk & fertility, they can still sire the odd great individual cow.

Diagram 2: Range of Indexes and €uro-Star categories for commercial suckler cows (Aug’15) Repl.

Rel. % Index OCX Ocean -€26 82% €uro-Stars (Across Breed)

AI Code

Name

★

Performance of 60 Half-Sisters of cow ‘293’ Performance Details €uro-Stars Avg. Avg. Age Avg. Calf - Progeny Average Rel Across Nbr of at 1st Calving Max Wt Carcass Repl. % Breed Calves Calving Interval Gain Grades Index 2 40 mts 432 days 0.85 30R,24O - €25 60% ★

★ ✘

✘

Performance of 1 Star Cow ‘293’ Performance Details €uro-Stars Avg. Calf Progeny Nbr of Age 1st Rel Across Max Wt Carcass Repl.

Calves Calving Calving % Breed Interval Gain Grades Index 6

24 mts 363 days 1.35 1E,3U,1R €32

60%

★★

★★★

★★★★

★★★★★

€33

€45

€74

€98

★

Your best cow ‘293’ is getting credit for her great performance as her index of €32 is far higher than that of her 60 half sisters who only have an average index of -€25. She is nearly into the 2 Star category & when her genomic information is included, her index may then go even higher. Genomics will allow a cow to break further away from what the majority of her bloodline has done and increase her €uro-Stars.

‘Genomics will allow a cow to break further away from what the majority of her bloodline has done and increase her €uro-Stars’ 11

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

12. If I mate a 5 Star Bull to a 1 Star Cow, will I get a 3 star calf?

Ans: This depends on what the actual Index values of the Bull and the Cow are.

Example 1: A 5 Star Bull and a 1 Star Cow that DOES give you a 3 Star heifer.

1 Star Cow

5 Star Bull

3 Star Calf €10

€120

€65 (10+120)/2 = €65

★ ✘

★★

★★★

★★★★

€33

€45

€74

★★★★★ ✘ €98

Example 2: The same 5 Star Bull and a 1 Star Cow (with a much lower index) DOES NOT give you a 3 Star heifer. This is because the cow has a much lower index pulling her further down into the 1 star category. This in turn means that the calf has a lower index and pulls it just down into the top of the 2 star category.

1 Star Cow

5 Star Bull

2 Star Calf - €40

€120

€40 (-40+120)/2 = €40

★ ✘

★★

★★★

★★★★

€33

€45

€74

★★★★★ ✘ €98

Before calculating how many stars the calf from a mating will have, you must first calculate that calf’s index by adding the index of the sire and dam together and dividing by two. Then you can check as to which percentile on the €uro-Star scale that this index falls into.

‘An animal’s index must be calculated first. Then look up which €uro-Star category it falls into’ 12

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

13. Where can I see an animal’s €uro-Stars?

For animals in your herd Ans: For animals in your herd the best way to see the €uro-Stars of your animals is through Beef Herdplus. This is ICBF’s beef breeding information service which will show you the €uro-Stars of your stock and will also provide you with a whole range of facts & figures about your stock from calving to slaughter.

€uro-Star profile €uro-Stars of your animals online

Herdplus Sign-Up Forms available at 023-8820452

€uro-Star Report €uro-Stars of your animal’s on paper

Suckler Cow Report €uro-Stars and progeny performance of your suckler cows

Bull Tracker Report €uro-Stars and progeny performance of your breeding bull(s)

Herdplus pulls together all available information on your cattle into easy to follow reports. These reports and online listings will allow you to easily gauge how your animals have performed and also allow you to compare your herd’s stats to national average figures. Joining Herdplus gives you access to these reports, web screens and applications. The €uro-Stars of your cattle will also be sent to you through the BDGP.

For a Bull not in your herd

For a Cow not in your herd

Ans: The ICBF Bull search.

Ans: Mart €uro-Star listing. In 2016, marts will be displaying the €uro-Star values of 4&5 star uncalved females. €uro-Stars Lis ng (07/10/2016) - Thurles Mart Animal Details

Step 2: Go to the ‘Bull Search’ and enter the tag number or AI Code of any pedigree bull and click ‘search’. That animal’s most up-to-date €uro-Star figures will then be shown.

Tag

1

IE361193390232 (Riverstown Connie)

Calvings

Step 1: Enter www.icbf.com into your internet address bar

Lot

Date of Sex Birth

Breed

30-Nov-11 F - 100% SI 75% SI

2

IE391078380336 27-Jan-12 F - 12% BB

3

IE311050370177 01-Jul-07 F -

12% HO

Replacement Index Sire

Dam's Sire

Index (Aug'15)

Euro-Stars

Extra Details

Across Breed

IE271801660109 IE151420940207 (Riverbank Atlan!c) (Raceview Nevill)

€79

Owner

Mr Egan, Loughmore, Templemore,Co.Tipperary

IE121098560419 IE121098560419 (Kilduff Walcot) (Kilduff Walcot)

€105

Owner

Mr P Callan, Holycross, Thurles, Co.Tipperary

€99

Owner

P Ryan , Templetuohy, Thurles, Co.Tipperary

50% SI IE221152520303 34% CH (Anatrim Sunshine)

-

ICBF will also be allowing females to be searched for at www.icbf.com in 2016.

13

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

14. How do I improve the €uro-Stars of my stock?

Ans: Basically, the rate at which the €uro-Stars of animals in your herd improve depends on how aggressively you select and cull your breeding stock based on their €uro-Star values. That is a very simplistic answer and there are of course many different factors to take into account in everyone’s herd such as herd size & opportunity to cull & use AI etc.

That said following are some basic guidelines that will gradually help you improve the €uro-Star ratings of your stock over time.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Join Herdplus - Herdplus will give you the information to become familiar with the €uro-Stars of your stock.

Record ‘Missing Sires’ - Record the sires of any animals in your herd for which the sire is currently unknown.

Weight Record - Weigh your youngstock while they are still suckling their dam’s.

Genotype - Make sure to return any requested DNA samples to ICBF for the genomic evaluations of your stock.

Use A.I. – A.I. will give you access to a wide range of Bulls with high reliability and excellent €uro-Star ratings. If you have a Stockbull, using some AI in your herd is still highly recommended so as his progeny can be benchmarked against AI Sired stock thus influencing his own €uro-Stars.

15. How Do you read a Catalogue page?

The ‘Terminal Index’ estimates how suitable a bull will be to breed profitable cattle for slaughter. E.g. this bull with a Terminal Index of €149 is expected to sire cattle that are €149 more profitable than the average Irish animal being reared for slaughter.

€uro-Star Catalogue Page User’s Guide

The ‘Gene Ireland Stamp’ indicates that the Breeder of this bull is performance recording his animals (scoring, weighing etc) and that young bulls in his herd with high Replacement Indexes are considered for progeny testing through AI. The ‘Replacement Index’ is the overall single figure profit index that each bull has for his maternal abilities.

Calving Difficulty %: • This is the expected percentage of difficult calvings that a bull will bring.

• This bull for example has a ‘calving difficulty %’ breeding value of 8.3%. This means that approximately 8.3 calves out of every 100 will result in a difficult calving. €uro-Star Rankings ★★★★★ 5 Stars Genetic Index is in the top 20% ★★★★ 4 Stars Genetic Index is in the top 40% ★★★ 3 Stars Average Genetic Index  2 Stars Genetic Index is in the bottom 40%  1 Star Genetic Index is in the bottom 20% Reliability % Reliability % Range Comment Bull Type 0-20% Low Young Bull 20-50% Low-Average Young Bull 50-90% Average-High AI Sire/Stockbull >90% High AI Sire

E.g. this bull with a Replacement Index of €75 is expected to sire daughters that are €75 more profitable per lactation than the average Irish suckler cow.

The ‘Replacement Index’ is split in two so as to clearly show the strengths & weaknesses of a bull’s daughters: Maternal Cow Traits: • This is an indication of the performance of a Bull’s daughter’s for important maternal traits that they express themselves e.g. Milk, Calving Interval, Survival, Age at 1st Calving, Maternal Calving.

Maternal Progeny Traits: • This is an indication of the profitability of progeny that the daughter’s of a bull will produce for economically important traits e.g.

Docility, Feed Intake, Carcass Weight, Conformation & Fat.

Reliability % is an indication as to how confident ICBF can be about the genetic index for a particular animal. Lots of progeny performance recorded (weighed etc) alongside lots of other animals, across large numbers of herds is what increases an animal's reliability % figure.

Understand a Bull’s Catalogue page in 3 steps…

1. Look at the Reliability % figures.

• Reliability % is the most important figure to look at on a bull’s catalogue page.

• ALWAYS look at the reliability % figure BEFORE looking at a Bull’s €uro-Stars or breeding values.

– They tell you how much importance you should attach to a Bull’s figures when deciding whether to purchase him or not.

14

2. Look at the Overall Economic Index that best suits your needs • Replacement Index – This is for Beef farmers that want a bull to breed their own Replacement females with.

• Terminal Index – This is for Beef farmers that want a bull to breed cattle for live trade or finishing.

• Dairy Beef Index – This is for Dairy farmers that are looking for a beef bull to use in their dairy herd (due in 2016).

• The ‘Key Profit Traits’ section gives extra detail on the figures that make up these Overall Economic Indexes.

• Remember to look at the ‘Reliability %’ figures at all times.

3. Look at the Calving Difficulty % figure • The ‘Calving Difficulty %’ figure must be compared against breed average figures (both within & across breed).

• Again, always look at the ‘Reliability %’ figure when assessing a bull’s breeding figures.

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Breeding for the Stars An Irish Beef Pedigree Breeder’s story John O’Reilly is a pedigree Limousin breeder who is farming outside Freshford Co.Kilkenny. As well as running a busy painting & decorating business in Kilkenny city John runs the 30 cow pedigree ‘ Gleannari’ limousin herd in his spare time! ‘Sure I had to do something in the evening when I finished up playing rugby!’.

Where potential customers previously pulled up in the yard with a trailer on the hitch and a cheque book in the pocket, they now arrive into John’s yard, head down squinting into the screen of a mobile phone looking up bull figures!.

‘90% of farmers that come in here looking for a bull are looking them up on their phones. You never hear from some of them again, and that’s all down to figures. Fair enough the figures are important but making sure that the bull is physically sound is just as important.

I feel that having to include €uro-Stars in my bull selection decisions limits my choice, as there are’nt a huge amount of new bulls coming through in AI each year, however, stars are here to stay and farmers have bought into them, so as a pedigree breeder I have to make sure that the bulls I am breeding have good €uro-Stars.’

Today’s pedigree breeder has to bring out a bull that ticks all the boxes on the figures – easy calving, quiet, milk in his daughters and of course he must also have a massive rear end! Having a bull that ticks all the boxes of the stars, as well as him being physically impressive is a real challenge’.

ICBF Linear scorers send the data that they record back to the ICBF database through electronic handheld devices.

Breeding for the Stars Ensuring that the bull’s you are selling have ‘good figures’ is a challenge faced by all pedigree beef breeders across all the various breeds in Ireland. There are basically 3 simple rules to follow for both Pedigree breeders and Commercial farmers, that will increase the chances of their stock having the much sought after 4 or 5 stars.

1. Linear Score & Weight Record 2. Know the €uro-Stars of your cows.

3. Know the €uro-Stars of your Sire’s.

1. Linear Score & Weight Record The €uro-Stars that farmers receive on their stock are only as good as the information that goes into making up those indexes.

John has always linear scored all of his pedigree youngstock so as to add vital information into their indexes. ‘

I have always brought in some straws of AI Sires that I would have sourced myself in France. I would have the only progeny of these bulls to start off with so its critical that I get their progeny weighed and scored so as to build up the reliability in their figures. Scoring is also valuable for keeping on top of docility. Poor docility is something that I will cull immediately on – I just won’t work with cracked cattle – end of story’.

‘90% of farmers that come in here looking for a bull are looking them up on their phones’ 15

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

2. Know the €uro-Stars of your cows Herdplus provides an online listing of the €uro-Stars of all cattle in the herd.

Graphic 1: Online €uro-Star profile. Some of John’s ‘5 Star’ pedigree animals are shown above.

John keeps a close eye on the €uro-Stars of his cows and young stock. He pays particular attention to the ‘Replacement Index’ as this gives him a steer on the milk & fertility in his herd. ‘There’s nothing I like better than to breed a big strong muscly bull but I have to remember that if my cows follow that path then I will run into problems as regards cows not having enough milk, calving intervals slipping etc. For those cows with poor €uro-Stars I always try to pick out a high indexed AI Sire to try and correct this.

I just have to keep one eye on the figures at all times so as to maximise the sale potential of the resulting young bulls.’

Graphic 2: A page from John’s Herdplus suckler cow report, for one of his cows.

Through his Herdplus ‘Suckler Cow Report’, John is also able to keep an eye on what the actual on the ground performance of his cow’s are.

16

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

3. Know the €uro-Stars of your Sires AI Sires John does his own AI and over the years has built up an impressive collection of Limousin AI straws. That said, John has to be careful as regards which bull’s he now uses. A bull that was fashionable to use 5 years ago may not now have good €uro-Star ratings and so must be avoided. He must also strike a balance between €uro-Stars and reliability %. The lower the reliability % the higher the risk that a bull’s figures will change.

‘I look up the latest ICBF figures online before using a bull and try and use a couple of new bulls alongside some highly reliable bulls in a kind of ‘team’ of bulls. On the back of the BDGP scheme I took a fresh look at what straws I had in the tank and categorised them based on their stars. I also normally bring in some straws of some new bulls every year from France. ICBF being able to include their French data has been a great help to these bulls not starting off on the ground but I still have to watch the reliability figures when using them.’

Ronick Hawk (RKH): High reliability (94%) 5 Star AI Sire. John knows that if he uses him and gets a bull that there is a good chance that he will still have a high star rating when he goes to sell him.

Tastevin (TSZ): Low reliability (50%) 5 Star AI Sire.

John would use a bull like him sparingly just in case his figures dropped. Using a bull with that reliability across the whole herd would be just too risky.

‘Hadrian’ is John’s new Stockbull. He is 5 stars for the ‘Terminal Index’.

His semen is also available from Bova AI.

Stockbulls Like a lot of Breeders, John also uses Stockbulls in his herd. By also using AI, John is actually giving the €uro-Stars of his Stockbulls a great chance to move. This is because if your Stockbull is used on his own then his progeny will have no other progeny from different bulls to be compared against. Whereas having the progeny of your stockbull compared against those off well used AI Sires gives your Stockbull the chance to show how good he is and in turn cause his €uro-Stars to change.

‘When I bred ‘Dimaggio’ and bought ‘Hadrian’, it would have been their backpedigrees that I looked at first. Now I have to pay as much attention to their €uro – Star indexes.’

‘Gleannari Dimaggio’ is John’s older Stockbull. He is 4 stars for the ‘Replacement Index’. John has also taken semen from this bull for his own on-farm use.

‘When I bred ‘Dimaggio’ and bought ‘Hadrian’, it would have been their backpedigrees that I looked at first. Now I have to pay as much attention to their €uro – Star indexes’ 17

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Herdplus Bulltracker Report One Herdplus report that John gets a lot of use out of is the ‘Bulltracker Report’ which, as the name suggests ‘tracks’ the performance of bull’s that he has sold for breeding. The report has an index section which lists all of the bulls sold in recent years and gives the breakdown of the number of calves that each bull has sired across the years.

Graphic 3: The index section at the start of John’s ‘Bulltracker Report’. This shows the number of progeny sired by each bull that John bred.

Bull Sold for Breeding ‘Take this bull ‘Gleannari Glad’ for example. I sold him in Roscrea in 2012. He is by my own stockbull so I was very interested to see how he would get on. This report shows me that after nearly 50 calves he is very easy calving and is throwing good stock.

This is powerful information to know and as easy calving as I know that his sire ‘Dimaggio’ is – the real proof is seeing that his son’s are also showing up to be easy calving.’

Graphic 4: The individual page in the report for each bull shows the numbers of progeny that he has sired as well as any summary performance data.

‘I love the ‘Herdplus Bulltracker Report’ as I learn a lot from seeing how the bulls that I sell go on to breed’ 18

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Where did all the milk & fertility go?

Really, its not that anything was deliberately done to reduce the average Irish suckler cow’s ability to have a calf every year or have enough milk to rear a calf. Its more that terminal traits are every beef cattle person’s primary concern. A Beef animal’s first assessment is with the naked eye. It is only human nature to base your first impressions of a bull by how he looks.

Muscle

✔

Weight

Daughter Milk

✔

?

Carcass Conformation

?

Daughter Fertility

✔

Docility

✔

?

Daughter Survival

The comments above were printed beside a random sample of Beef AI Bulls in AI catalogues over the last 20 years. These comments were nearly always accompanied by a fantastic picture of the bull. It is completely normal that the physical conformation of a beef bull is described to potential customers as these are the traits that matter when you are breeding beef cattle for the mart or the factory. AI Companies, Breed Societies and Pedigree Breeders delivered what they were asked to deliver – well muscled beef bulls!

‘Unfortunately, it is the ‘invisible’ traits that are also just as important to a beef farmer’ 19

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 The following graph shows how this success in terminal traits grew over the years.

120 115 Scales PTA

One side effect from the success of breeding increasingly beefy animals has been that when beef farmers would return from the mart or factory having sold another group of well-bred beef cattle, they found that an increasing number of their female comrades at home were on average:

pta calving difficulty pta carcass wt pta daughter fertility pta daughter milk pta survival pta carcass conformation

110 105 100 95 90 1999

2001

2003

2005 2007 Birth year

2009

2011

2013

Graph 1: Genetic trends for Terminal and Maternal traits in the Irish National Suckler Herd in recent times

• • • • •

Difficult to get in calf Having difficulty calving themselves Lacking enough milk to rear their calves with Failing to go back in calf Not surviving for long in the herd

Déjà vu! The very same thing happened in the dairy industry in the late 1990’s. Dairy AI Bulls were promoted and used on the basis of how much milk their daughters could produce…logical enough assessment of a Dairy Bull.

However, just like what is now happening in beef – while the genetic progress in one trait was improving – another trait was suffering. In the dairy case – it was also the female traits of fertility and survival that were suffering as a consequence of increased milk production. There are many examples of bulls whose daughters did exactly what was promised of them, however they also disappointed in other traits that were not being focussed on at the time of their use. Again, like beef breeding – this was not the intended outcome – it was just a reflection as to what the focus in breeding was at that stage…more milk, more milk, more milk!

Linde Alfred is a new graduate, representing the Dutch breeding philosophy. Alfred transmits not only more milk but substantial increase in both fat and protein contents. Due to the elevated protein level of his daughters he is a great money bull with a very sound type transmission.

(AI catalogue comment for LLD) Linde Alfred (LLD) Born: 15/2/84

Index EBI Milk Sub Index Fertility Sub Index

Euro 78

Rel 97%

61 37

99% 96%

This Holstein bull was marketed here in the 1990’s. His Dairy Index in 2015 is shown below. He did deliver on milk production but not on daughter fertility.

‘Déjà vu! The very same thing happened in the dairy breeding industry in the late 1990’s’ 20

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 The following 2 influential AI Sires ‘Hermes’ (Charolais) and ‘Dauphin’ (Limousin) are good examples of how certain bloodlines have been followed over the years because of their ability to inject muscle and weight into their pedigree offspring who in turn passed these genetics into commercial herds around Ireland.

Hermes Bloodline in Ireland Bull Details AI Code HME

Terminal Index Index Star Across Breed €135 ★★★★★ His AI Sire descendants in Ireland Terminal Index Index Star Across Breed €156 ★★★★★ €174 ★★★★★ €148 ★★★★★ €143 ★★★★★ €146 ★★★★★ €134 ★★★★★ €125 ★★★★★ €157 ★★★★★ €154 ★★★★★ €138 ★★★★★ €127 ★★★★★ €112 ★★★★ €148 ★★★★★ €137 ★★★★★ €129 ★★★★★ €140 ★★★★★ €135 ★★★★★ €136 ★★★★★ €122 ★★★★★ €85 ★★ €135 ★★★★★ €149 ★★★ €107 ★★★★★ Average €136 ★★★★★

Name HERMES Bull Details

AI Code CH2066 S2139 F182 S1110 F240 S312 KUD AAI CF52 PHX HVT S731 F144 VCR F174 S949 F208 S297 CF62 OYX HME S626 KIB

Name DERRYOLAM IMPECCABLE TONROE EMINEM BAURNAFEA ALI BABA KILVILCORRIS ERIC OAKHILL FELIX KILMORE TOPPER KILCULLEN TED ASHLEIGH ADMIRAL DOONALLY NEW PANORAMIX HILLIEW ATLANTA OKAPIBB COTTAGE SCOTT DROMISKIN VICEROY ROUNDHILL VICTOR (ET) LOWERFFRYDD BENHURR ET AGHAFAD HAROLD ET BEECHDALE RAMBLER BANCO ONYX HERMES ASHLEIGH VICTOR (ET) LIMKILN BOSCO

Replacement Index Index Stars Across Breed – €106 ★ Replacement Index Index Stars Across Breed €38 ★★ €33 ★★ €33 ★★ €30 ★ €13 ★ €2 ★ €1 ★ – €6 ★ – €20 ★ – €24 ★ – €26 ★ – €33 ★ – €34 ★ – €43 ★ – €48 ★ – €51 ★ – €59 ★ – €62 ★ – €88 ★ – €93 ★ – €106 ★ – €117 ★ – €166 ★ - €36 ★

Table 1: Listing of Terminal and Replacement Index values for ‘Hermes’ and his offspring from which semen was also used here in Ireland.

HERMES Number of AI Sires that are descendants of him in Ireland 23 Minimum number of commercial progeny from this bloodline born in Ireland Number of pedigree progeny from this bloodline born in Ireland

Descendants - Average Terminal Index

Descendants - Average Replacement Index

Index

Star Across Breed

Index

Stars Across Breed

€136

★★★★★

– €36

★

43,583 12,712

Table 2: Summary of the average Terminal and Replacement Index values for offspring from ‘Hermes’ from which semen was also used here in Ireland.

21

22

Baurnafea Ali Baba F182

Cottage Scott F144

Roundhill Victor F174

Limkiln Bosco KIB

Ashleigh Victor S626

Kilvilcorris Eric S1110

Tonroe Eminem S2139

Kilcullen Ted KUD

Ashleigh Admiral AAI

Derryolan Impeccable CH2066

Beechdale Rambler S297

Hillview Atlanta HVT Lowerffrydd Benhurr S949

Kilmore Topper S312

Oakhill Felix F240

Onyx OYX

Dromiskin Viceroy VCR

Doonally New CF52

Panoramix PHX

Hermes HME

Okapibb S731

Aghafad Harold Et F208

Banco CF62

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Dauphin Bloodline in Ireland Bull Details AI Code DAU

Name DAUPHIN

AI Code S3049 YNE S2030 S1148 S1427 S2228 S1564 S2135 S1055 ODZ S2266 S2133 S1052 S696 PAM LM2090 S1124 ROX S1121 JAJ CZH CXM

Bull Details Name NETHERHALL JACKPOT NORMAN ELY LODGE HAMLET LOWERFFRYDD EMPIRE CHAUMEIL RONICK INSTAGRAM HUNTERSHALL GLADIATOR EMSLIES GALILEO BRANCEILLE ODERIM SARKLEY HERALD BRUTUS HASHTAG EMERSON NEOPHIN PALMARES POWERHOUSE ITALIC GUARDS BOOMER ROCKY CLOUGHHEAD ERNIE OBJAT CARMORN DAUPHIN CASTLEROCK COMET

Terminal Index Index Star Across Breed €101 ★★★ His AI Sire descendants in Ireland Terminal Index Index Star Across Breed €105 ★★★ €109 ★★★★ €121 ★★★★★ €135 ★★★★★ €115 ★★★★ €120 ★★★★ €112 ★★★★ €166 ★★★★★ €196 ★★★★★ €94 ★★★ €132 ★★★★★ €81 ★★ €176 ★★★★★ €85 ★★ €89 ★★★ €89 ★★★ €130 ★★★★★ €124 ★★★★★ €127 ★★★★★ €174 ★★★★★ €100 ★★★ €118 ★★★★ Average €123 ★★★★

Replacement Index Index Stars Across Breed €35 ★★ Replacement Index Index Stars Across Breed €97 ★★★★ €91 ★★★★ €57 ★★★ €56 ★★★ €54 ★★ €54 ★★ €49 ★★ €47 ★★ €39 ★★ €35 ★★ €34 ★★ €28 ★ €26 ★ €22 ★ €22 ★ €11 ★ €10 ★ €6 ★ – €2 ★ – €6 ★ – €11 ★ – €39 ★ €31 ★★

Table 3: Listing of Terminal and Replacement Index values for ‘Dauphin’ and his offspring from which semen was also used here in Ireland

DAUPHIN Number of AI Sires that are descendants of him in Ireland 22 Minimum umber of commercial progeny from this bloodline born in Ireland Number of pedigree progeny from this bloodline born in Ireland

Descendants - Average Terminal Index

Descendants - Average Replacement Index

Index

Star Across Breed

Index

Stars Across Breed

€123

★★★★

€31

★★

79,952 5,160

Table 4: Summary of the average Terminal and Replacement Index values for offspring from ‘Dauphin’ from which semen was also used here in Ireland.

23

24

Brutus Hashtag S2133

Brutus Cracker UK720694200299

Bailea Umber UK720297100687

Netherhall Jackpot S3049

Requin 3615031134

Jacot 3615031134

Guards Boomer S1124

Castlerock Comet CXM

Rocky ROX

Emslies Galileo S2135

Ronick Instagram S2228

Rathconville Eugene UK924190902461

Etudiant FR1933391493

Emslies Colossus UK520779400668

Chaumeil S1427

Lowerffrydd Empire S1148 Powerhouse Elite UK301700100056

Cloughead Ernie S1121

Branceille S1055

Neophin S696

Emerson S1052

Objat JAJ

Palmares PAM

Dauphin DAU

Carmorn Dauphin CZH

Norman Ely YNE

Lodge Hamlet S2030

5331 Saphir 3615082247

Sarkley Herald S2266

Powerhouse Italic LM2090

Oderim ODZ

Huntershall Gladiator S1564

Rossignol FR3615030976

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Hermes

Dauphin

‘Hermes’ and ‘Dauphin’ – were extremely successful bulls, who were very popular with pedigree breeders. Their names can be found in the backpedigrees of many stockbulls in Ireland. There are many more like them, all household names & rightly so for weight, conformation, style & show winners. They also bred some good females however on average, their bloodlines, their sons & grandsons were selected with terminal traits in mind.

In Table 5 overleaf there is some crude analysis backing up the claim that, generally speaking, over the years – beef AI Bulls were selected more for their beefing rather than maternal abilities. Table 5 contains some of the most influential Beef AI Bulls ever used in Ireland. It varies between the breeds but overall as a group of bulls, they on average were found to be stronger for the Terminal Index, rather than the Replacement Index.

This is not laying the blame for the demise of maternal traits at their door for a minute, but it does reflect the general trend in Beef bull selection and popularity trends over the last few decades. It is crucial that the Gene Ireland Maternal Progeny Test program and the BDGP succeed if Ireland’s suckler cows are to become more milky & fertile. Their main objectives are to source genetics and encourage the use of beef genetics that will not only have excellent beef characteristics but also produce efficient females for the national suckler herd.

Doonally New - CF52 Doonally New (CF52) is without doubt the most heavily referenced AI Sire in terms of being excellent for terminal traits but not as good for maternal traits. That said, some pedigree breeders have had excellent results with CF52 daughters but, on average, the majority of his daughters did not excel for milk & fertility. Without doubt the most popular Charolais Bull used in Ireland over the past 15 years. Bred in france by M & H Gaec Devillard, he was born on the 18th of January 1997. Selected by Rosalish Goulding (NCBC) in France, he first stood at the NWCBS bull stud at Doonally House in Sligo and then moved to the Progressive Genetics bull stud in Enfield Co.Meath in the mid 2000’s.

He was sired by ‘Hermes’ and had an outstanding performance test in the biggest performance test centre in France. He has sired 10,800 pedigree animals here and tens of thousands of commercials. As the graphic for Hermes’ shows, CF52 was the sire of 13 AI bulls that were used here. He is a 5 star bull (across breed) for the ‘Terminal Index’ and a 1 star bull (across breed) for the ‘Replacement Index’.

‘On average, their bloodlines, their sons & grandsons were selected with terminal traits in mind’ 25

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Influential Beef AI Sires in Ireland Bull Details AI Code S231 YDH SUB BLR F195 LIO INV TIN EGY CPZ CPC TUN VBS TEE TNE S241 ODC BCH GDY OUC MIR IVC OMD HME VIE SGN DUN SAD BHG CKVX WTA HCO DUV TLE DAU NLG LBI EUO POI S226 JVL GIN S244 THX S619 TSJ DIR BTV DLE KGR SHF OHL GHS LRK HWE

Name RAWBURN EVENTER 2ND YOUNG DALE HOGAN SUNSET ACRES BANG BLACKEAGLE CHALLENGER 19E TIVANAGH BARON LIORAN INVINCIBLE TURIN EGYPTIEN CAMPEUR CAPUCIN TUDOR NEPTUNE VOLUBILIS TOTTERIDGE SCEPTRE TONNERRE BRUTAL DE ST FONTAINE OPIUM DE CHOCQUENEE BRUEGAL D'AU CHENE DES HAYONS GALOPEUR DES HAYONS OPTICIEN D'AU CHENE MEILLARD RJ INVINCIBLE DOMINO HERMES VICOMTE SNS GENERATOR 28X IMP CAN DUNLEVER DON STANDARD LAD 93J IMP CAN BISHOPHILL GENERAL CH 3223 VISA ET 57X WILODGE TONKA HARICOT DUVALIER TALENT DAUPHIN GRILLON LARBIN ECUSSON POTIRON INDIVIDUE JOVIAL GITAN HURLEUR THE UBLO TOURNANT SIR JAMES DEERPARK IMPROVER BALLYART VANTAGE DEERPARK LEADER 4TH KILLALISS GOLDEN RULE 8TH SCOTTISH NEFF OVERHALL HIVY GRETNA HOUSE SUPERSONIC LANDMARK HEYWOOD ESQUIRE

Breed Angus Angus Angus Angus Angus Aubrac Aubrac Aubrac Aubrac Aubrac Blonde Blonde Blonde Blonde Blonde Blue Blue Blue Blue Blue Charolais Charolais Charolais Charolais Charolais Hereford Hereford Hereford Hereford Hereford Limousin Limousin Limousin Limousin Limousin Parthenaise Parthenaise Parthenaise Parthenaise Parthenaise Saler Saler Saler Saler Saler Shorthorn Shorthorn Shorthorn Shorthorn Shorthorn Simmental Simmental Simmental Simmental Simmental Average

Terminal index Stars Across Index Breed €78 ★★ €66 ★★ €51 €31 ★ €40 ★ €128 ★★★★★ €55 ★ €110 ★★★★ €112 ★★★★ €85 ★★ €131 ★★★★★ €93 ★★★ €98 ★★★ €99 ★★★ €125 ★★★★★ €187 ★★★★★ €101 ★★★ €160 ★★★★★ €137 ★★★★★ €158 ★★★★★ €127 ★★★★★ €123 ★★★★★ €143 ★★★★★ €135 ★★★★★ €97 ★★★ €44 ★ €17 ★ €8 ★ €23 ★ €21 ★ €178 ★★★★★ €115 ★★★★ €99 ★★★ €90 ★★★ €101 ★★★ €162 ★★★★★ €146 ★★★★★ €105 ★★★ €126 ★★★★★ €133 ★★★★★ €86 ★ €80 ★★ €102 ★★★ €131 ★★★★★ €59 ★★ - €6 ★ €23 ★ €24 ★ €16 ★ - €10 ★ €24 ★ €57 ★ €68 ★★ €8 ★ €16 ★ €86 ★★★

Replacement Stars Across Index Breed €114 ★★★★★ €113 ★★★★★ €83 ★★★★ €66 ★★★ €29 ★ €213 ★★★★★ €97 ★★★★ €35 ★★ €28 ★ €21 ★ €64 ★★★ €47 ★★ €47 ★★ €42 ★★ - €12 ★ €17 ★ €16 ★ - €7 ★ - €74 ★ - €139 ★ €27 ★ €16 ★ - €26 ★ - €106 ★ - €112 ★ €65 ★ €44 ★★ - €6 ★ - €7 ★ - €22 ★ €142 ★★★★★ €132 ★★★★★ €110 ★★★★★ €103 ★★★★★ €35 ★★ €147 ★★★★★ €101 ★★★★★ €52 ★★ €48 ★★ €42 ★★ €256 ★★★★★ €215 ★★★★★ €178 ★★★★★ €160 ★★★★★ €72 ★★★ €186 ★★★★★ €105 ★★★★★ €77 ★★★★ €35 ★★ €23 ★ €96 ★★★★ €81 ★★★★ €71 ★★★ €65 ★★★ €64 ★★★ €59 ★

Table 5: A listing of some of the most influential AI Sires used by Irish pedigree breeders

26

Pedigree AI Sire Descendants of Descendants this bloodline in In Ireland Ireland 3 2816 11 3404 12 4654 32 7419 17 4011 6 108 1 41 1 88 2 90 5 56 2 211 3 304 3 235 1 215 4 192 30 805 20 1479 48 1116 71 2026 86 1910 17 10166 36 13824 19 8671 22 12712 20 10581 13 2882 6 1423 32 5194 14 2772 10 2326 27 4482 18 4257 29 4889 14 3295 30 5160 7 161 3 58 2 23 5 97 3 30 2 45 1 114 3 119 1 126 1 65 3 707 11 827 3 588 4 609 5 557 57 6728 25 4434 21 5038 30 7165 28 7074 880 158,379

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

TNE Tonnerre

GDY Galopeur des Hayons

IVC Invincible

SGN SNS Generator 28X

DUV Duvalier

JVL Jovial

DIR Deerpark Improver

GHS Gretnahouse Supersonic

VIE Vicomte

LIO Lioran

YDH Young Dale Hogan

POI Potiron

‘It is crucial that the Gene Ireland Maternal Progeny Test program and the BDGP succeed if Ireland’s suckler cows are to become more milky & fertile’ 27

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Beef Gene Ireland Overview Background Gene Ireland is the name of Ireland’s national beef progeny test program. A progeny test program is basically a process through which the offspring of new young AI Sires are evaluated. The data (calving ease scores, liveweights, daughter fertility etc) is then used to update the young AI Sire’s €uro-Stars. The bull’s with the best genetic evaluations are then promoted for widespread use.

Pedigree Beef Cattle Genetic Trends 1985 - 2015

Objective

€100

Every progeny test program must have a clear objective in terms of the type of Bull’s that it wants to select and then in turn the type of progeny that it would like those bulls to sire. For Beef Gene Ireland the objective is very clear - the Maternal genetics of Ireland’s national suckler herd has not been improving at the same rate as their Terminal genetics so the total focus is to identify bulls that will sire suckler cows with excellent milk and fertility (Graph 1).

€90 €80 €70 €60 €50 €40 1985

1990

1995

2000

Terminal

2005

2010

2015

Maternal

Graph 1: Genetic Trends for the Terminal and Maternal indexes across Irish Pedigree breeds (1985-2015)

Progeny Test Basics Two vital factors in a successful progeny test program are:

1. High Replacement Index – It is very important that every young bull being selected for progeny testing has as high a genetic index for the ‘Replacement Index’ as is possible.

Average ‘Replacement Index’ €uro-Stars of Gene Ireland Bulls (2014-2015) 5.00

3.75

2.50

Shorthorn

Simmental

Saler

Parthenaise

Piedmontese

Limousin

0.00

Hereford

1.25

Charolais

2015 Stars Across 5.0 5.0 3.0 0.5 3.4 4.2 4.4 3.5 4.5 5.0 4.0 4.5 3.9

B. Blue

Bulls 3 2 1 1 6 2 9 1 1 1 1 6 34

Blonde

2014 Stars Across 4.5 5.0 3.5 1.0 2.4 3.2 4.9 4.3 5.0 4.5 4.8 3.9

Aubrac

Bulls 2 1 1 2 5 2 7 3 2 1 3 29

Angus

Breed Angus Aubrac Blonde B.Blue Charolais Hereford Limousin Parthenaise Piedmontese Saler Shorthorn Simmental Average

Graph 2: Average ‘Replacement Index’ €uro-Stars of Gene Ireland Bulls (2014 & 2015).

Table 1: Average ‘Replacement Index’ €uro-Stars for Gene Ireland Bulls (2014 & 2015).

The young Gene Ireland bulls whose semen was dispatched in 2014 and 2015 were on average ‘4 Stars’ for the ‘Replacement Index’. Pedigree breeders now placing more focus on the ‘Replacement Index’, due to the BDGP, will increase the star ratings of the pool of bulls from which young AI Bulls will be selected in the future.

28

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 2. Numbers of Bulls tested – Increasing the number of bulls that are progeny tested in turn increases the chances of finding a great bull.

From the year 2007 through to 2013 there was an average of 14 bulls progeny tested each year. These bulls would have been already in AI and deemed suitable for inclusion in the maternal program. However in 2014 there were 29 bulls progeny tested and in 2015 there were a further 34 bulls tested. This sharp increase is due to the Partner Organizations in Gene Ireland (ICBF, Beef Breed Societies, NCBC & Dovea) coming together and actually selecting and purchasing bulls through the program.

400

40 Numbers of Bulls

While the number of beef bulls being tested has increased there is still a huge need for even more bulls to be progeny tested so as an adequate number of AI Sires with excellent Replacement Index figures are identified. In comparison, between 2007 and 2015 there have been 350 young Dairy Bulls progeny tested. Over the same period there has been just over 150 beef bulls tested.

35

350

30

300

25

250

20

200

15

150

10

100

5

50

0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

0 Beef Bulls

Dairy Bulls

Graph 3: Number of Beef Gene Ireland AI Bulls (2007 - 2015).

Graph 4: Number of Beef & Dairy Test Bulls progeny tested (2007-2015).

Outnumbered! Simmental Gene Ireland Young Bull ‘Auroch Deuter PP’, in his pen alongside a large number of young Gene Ireland Dairy Testbulls at the new Ballyvorisheen Bull Stud (NCBC).

‘Clewbay Highmaster’ (YCM),bred by Charles Hughes, Lankhill, Westport,Co.Mayo. Sired by ‘Repair’, he was one of the first Charolais bull’s to be progeny tested through Gene Ireland since the program was changed in 2014.

500 doses of his semen are in storage and will be made available for pedigree matings, should he retain his 5 star ‘Replacement Index’ rating at a high reliability % level.

‘YCM’ on-farm before being selected for Gene Ireland.

29

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Gene Ireland Beef Bulls (2014 & 2015) Nbr

Code

Breed

Name

Sire

Nbr

Code

Breed

Name

Sire

1

JBS

AA

Steil Jacob

Aynho Rossiter Eric

33 OKH

LM

Keltic Handsome

Ampertaine Commander

2

JZJ

AA

Cairnmor Jameson

Lawsons Romeo C938

34 ZCH

LM

Carrowreagh Honduras

On-Dit

3

JJC

AA

Cairnmor John

Mogeely Joe H979

35 XGL

LM

Glorieux

Chaton

4

AA2064 AA

Carrigroe Kian

Rahosheen Hugo

36 KAC

LM

Keltic Isaac

Bavardage

5

AA2163 AA

Liss Brendan

Mogeely Lord Harrow M191 37 YOB

LM

Barryroe Ice

Marquis

6

VEZ

Ballinclea Iveco

Drellands Fred

38 LM2151

LM

Ballygarvan Stud Ike

Nimbus- Mn

7

AU2149 AU

Johnstown Ian 1039

Roussel

39 LM2150

LM

Castleview Imaginable

Ampertaine Commander

8

AU2155 AU

Slaneymill Jack 687

Roussel

40 LM2156

LM

Clonark Jumbo

Ampertaine Commander

9

SGA

BA

Scaughmolin G Mail

Blackwater Ainsley

41 LM2116

LM

Tomschoice Ironstone

Kaprico Eravelle

10 LJE

BA

Lislea Hermes

Blackwater Ainsley

42 OEO

LM

Ivoire

Fanon P

11 RFF

BB

Ringfort Goulu

Maserati

43 LM2010

LM

Raffertys Immanuel

Shire Milton

12 AGY

BB

Rosemount Giga

Boherard Cantona ET

44 LM2014

LM

Ewdenvale Ivor

Ewdenvale Everest

13 OZR

BB

Rosemount Gar

Solway View Dynamite ET 45 PI2157

PI

Kilree Leo

Kilree Gringo

14 GEZ

CH

Gedeon

Dany

46 AYH

PT

Lisnagranchy Hulio

Lisnagranchy Carlo

15 YBH

CH

Ballym Henri

Pinay

47 ZGH

PT

Hurricane Gonzo

Dere Noel

16 YCM

CH

Clewbay High- Master

Repair

48 ZYH

PT

Alamira Harry

Ti Lapin

17 KCH

CH

Clenagh Hank

Goldstar Echo

49 ZKY

PT

Kyle Herd Ivan

Azimut

18 GKA

CH

Inverlochy Gurkha

Balmyle Bollinger

50 ZBZ

SA

Breffni Muzz

Ecrin

19 CH2000 CH

Coom Indurain

Doonally Donald

51 KTM

SA

Knottown Michael

Knottown Hermes

20 CH2154 CH

Polar Joe 2

Blelack Digger

52 SA2153

SA

Highfield Odran

Vaillant

21 CH2159 CH

Bondi Jacob

Alwent Goldbar (ET)

53 EMS

SH

Doon Erasmus

Alta Cedar Perfect Storm

22 HHJ

CH

Heracles

Vittoz

54 SH2181

SH

Coolvin Dominator

Sliabhbhui Prince 2nd

23 PDR

CH

Dereskit Improver

Jumper

55 LZZ

SI

Lisnacrann Demertios

Kilbride Farm Newry

24 DBF

CH

Dereskit Invincible

Meillard

56 XDM

SI

Celtic Diceman P ET

Lykke Atlantis P

25 GGM

HE

Gageboro Morgan

Gageboro Eugenic

57 KDZ

SI

Curaheen Dickens

Curaheen Warrior

26 YKM

HE

Moyclare Lucky

Brocca Saviour

58 KJG

SI

Knockane Dag

Curaheen Vio

27 HE2148 HE

Ballyaville Hamlet

Killeaney Pompeii

59 PPA

SI

Polar Edinson

Banwy T- Rex

28 HE2147 HE

Allowdale Rambo 415

Allowdale Rambo ET

60 SI2152

SI

Curaheen Earp

Curaheen Vio

29 ZAG

LM

Castleview Gazelle

Ampertaine Commander

61 SI2158

SI

Seepa Fionn

Glebefarm Tyson

30 KZH

LM

Kilskeagh Hill 16

On- Dit

62 ETP

SI

Curaheen Evolution P

Auroch Bullet Pp

31 YHB

LM

Drombanny Hero

On- Dit

63 AHC

SI

Auroch Deuter PP

PHS Polled Worldwide 14W

32 OHT

LM

Roundhill Hunter

Vivaldi

AU

Table 2: Total list of Beef Bulls whose semen was offered to farmers through Gene Ireland catalogues in 2014 & 2015.

30

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Selecting Gene Ireland Bulls Three general criteria that are followed when selecting young Beef Bulls for progeny testing through Gene Ireland are: 1. Very high Replacement Index The bull’s Replacement Index (& reliability %) and the performance of his dam (average calving interval etc) is hugely important. His sire having a proven track record of siring good suckler cows also gives him a distinct advantage. So in a way when selecting a maternal progeny test bull, you are using the past to predict the future.

2. Physically Sound It goes without saying that any bull being selected has to be physically sound. All bulls and their dam’s are linear scored as part of the selection process to check for any problems.

3. Back Pedigree It is always important to make sure that not too many bulls from a particular sire or dam bloodline are selected for progeny testing as this would tighten the gene pool and make it difficult for pedigree breeders to use them if most of their females are already related to them. It is important to maintain as many ‘outcross’ pedigrees as possible.

Proven Maternal Bloodlines The majority of bulls selected for progeny testing are sired by bulls which have come through maternal progeny test programs themselves and represent the most modern maternal genetics in their breed. That said, thanks to the fact that liquid nitrogen can preserve a bull’s straws for an extremely long time, sons of some very old AI Sires have also been selected for Gene Ireland. These AI Bulls are proven maternal producers and as it is now a long-time since their semen was first available – they are in effect also ‘outcross’ bulls for today’s population.

Following are examples as to how bulls with both ‘old’ and ‘new’ genetics are being selected for progeny testing.

Name: Hurtig

AI Code: HRG

DOB: 9th Sept 1978

‘Hurtig’ (HRG) was an Austrian Simmental AI Sire. No son of his ever went into AI until lately when the focus on milk & fertility has increased.

Pedigree Simmental breeder Michael Oliver from Swinford, Co.Mayo, has used ‘HRG’ in recent years. One son ‘S1624’ is already a successful AI Sire with Bova AI and another ‘HRG’ son ‘Lisncrann Fifty Cent’ (below) was selected for progeny testing through Gene Ireland in 2016 by NCBC.

HRG Index Rel % Across Breed Stars Replacement €149 95% ★★★★★ Index

2 Hurtig E.T. sons. On the right is ‘Lisnacrann Sunnyboy’ (S1624, Bova AI) – the nbr.1 Simmental AI Sire on Replacement index (August 2015).

Hurtig semen was sold by NWCBS (now Munster/PG). Above is a copy of his AI catalogue page from the 1990’s.

31

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Name: Doonally Donald

AI Code: CF43

DOB: 9th Jan 1988

‘Doonally Donald’ (CF43) was a Charolais AI Sire that also stood at NWCBS (now Munster/PG). He was easy calving and his daughters were milky and fertile. No son of his ever went into AI either until very recently.

Dovea AI purchased a son of his ‘Coom Indurain’ for progeny testing through Gene Ireland. He was bred by Daniel O’Connor, Rathmore, Co.Kerry.

CF43 Replacement Index

Index

Rel %

Across Breed Stars

€116

96%

★★★★★

Name: Vittoz

AI Code: CH2204

‘Coom Indurain’ (CH2000)

DOB: 25th Oct 2004

‘Vittoz’ (CH2204) is an example of modern day maternal Charolais genetics. He is regularly the number 1 Charolais bull for maternal traits in France (2015). He was progeny tested by ‘Genes Diffusion’ in France.

His only son in AI in Ireland ‘Heracles’ was selected for progeny testing by NCBC from a French Performance Test Centre.

CH2204 Replacement Index

Index

Rel %

Across Breed Stars

€120

42%

★★★★★

Name: On-Dit ‘On-Dit’ (ONI) came through the ‘Sersia France’ progeny test program and he was selected for use here by the Irish Limousin Society. He is a well proven bull for both maternal and terminal traits. 3 sons of his were selected for progeny testing through Gene Ireland. He is a good example of how a targeted progeny test program can concentrate on selecting sons of a well proven bull for a while. It is critically important though to not over use such a ‘Sire of Sons’ as the gene pool would then tighten.

AI Code: ONI

‘Heracles’ (HHJ)

DOB: 16th Nov 1998

KZH ONI Replacement Index

Index

Rel %

Across Breed Stars

€151

86%

★★★★★

YHB

ZCH

32

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Name: Aynho Rossiter

AI Code: AYR

DOB: 23rd Jan 2002

‘Aynho Rossiter’ ’ (AYR) is a well proven Angus bull. He is well known for siring cattle with excellent beef characteristics however he is also very well known for his ability to sire excellent females with lots of milk. The Gene Ireland program selected a son of his for progeny testing ‘Steil Jacob’, bred by Cathal McCormack, Tulsk, Castlerea, Co.Roscommon.

AYR Replacement Index

Index

Rel %

Across Breed Stars

€118

85%

★★★★★

‘Steil Jacob’ (JBS)

Outcross Maternal Bloodlines Gene Ireland is acutely aware that it is vital that new bloodlines are constantly introduced into breeding populations so as the gene pool is kept as fresh as possible. Given the huge focus that commercial farmers now put on €uro-Stars when buying their bull it is an absolute necessity that an ‘Outcross’ bull also has good €uro-Star figures. Granted the reliability % of such figures will be low – but without good €uro-Stars, getting the required amount of semen used is extremely difficult.

That said, great progress has been made as regards including breeding values from France into the €uro-Stars here.

Headway is now being made on bringing in UK data and Interbeef is continuing to build the international infrastructure which will streamline this exchange of data between countries.

Following are some sires of Gene Ireland bulls that would be considered outcrosses for Irish pedigree Breeders:

‘Dany’ is the sire of ‘GEZ’ (Gedeon). His semen has never been used in Ireland and he is recommended for breeding milky and fertile daughters in France.

Dany

Index

Rel %

Across Breed Stars

Replacement Index

€121

25%

★★★★★

‘Allowdale Rambo ET’ is the sire of ‘HE2147’ (Allowdale Rambo 415). He has a Canadian backpedigree which would be an outcross for Irish Breeders.

HE2027

Index

Rel %

Across Breed Stars

Replacement Index

€90

25%

★★★★

‘PHS Polled Worldwide 14W’ is the sire of ‘AHC’ (Auroch Deuter). He is a Canadian Simmental bull who would also be an outcross to the Irish population.

S1131

€-val

Rel %

Across Breed Stars

Replacement Index

€104

16%

★★★★★

Lower Reliability %: The €uro-Stars of ‘Outcross’ Sires will have lower reliabilities due to them not having any genetic links with the Irish population yet.

‘When selecting a maternal progeny test bull, you are using the past to predict the future’ 33

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

New AI Codes Background Right from the start, Bulls from which semen was taken from for AI were given ‘AI Codes’. The ‘AI Code’ served as the short abbreviated ID that the bull would then have forever more whenever data was being recorded about the bull (inseminations, sire of calves etc). For a lot of bull’s the ‘AI Code’ is often quoted instead of the bull’s name.

‘2 Letter’ AI Codes

In the beginning, bulls received 2 letter AI Codes.

BR: Brocket Renown Born: 24th November 1958

BV: Brackford Valiant Born: 4th January 1963

OE: Okery Extra Born: 30th November 1957

‘Country of Origin’ AI Codes In the 1970’s,the first foreign AI Bulls from the continental breeds that were imported received AI codes that reflected their breed and where they had been imported from (CF:French Charolais, IC:Irish Charolais, FL: French Limousin, AS:Austrian Simmental).

CF27: Navire Born: 6th February 1977 ‘CF’ indicates that the bull is a Charolais bull from France.

IC27: Cavan Chap Born: 12th January 1987 ‘IC’ indicates that the bull is a Charolais bull from Ireland.

FL18: Enfield Big Bang Born: 9th March 1986 ‘FL’ indicates that the bull is a Limousin bull from France.

AS31: Pego Born: 1st January 1977 ‘AS’ indicates that the bull is a Simmental bull from Austria.

‘3 Letter’ AI Codes From the 1980’s on, all bulls received 3 letter AI Codes. This 3 letter AI Code was typically made up of 3 letters from the Bull’s name.

KJE: KBJ Jetta 64D Born: 1st January 1993

34

NIT: Nigaud de Miecret Born: 1st September 1986

LHI: Lough Harrier Born: 30th April 1992

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

‘Special Breeding Purposes’ Codes In the 2000’s ‘Special Breeding Purposes’ codes were introduced. These codes were introduced for bulls that breeder’s were bringing in small quantities of for their own use.

S578: Bison Born: 6th February 2006

S592: Theoreme Born: 11th February 2002

S811: Urbaniste Born: 5th September 2003

‘On-Farm collected’ Codes Also in the 2000’s, ‘On-Farm collected’ codes were brought in so as to distinguish bulls whose semen was collected from them on-farm. This is because such semen can only be used on the same farm that the bull was on when it was collected.

F131: Roundhill Romeo Born: 12th September 2000

F234: Gurteragh Gladiator Born: 7th July 2007

F200: Blelack Elijah G747 Born: 21st April 2007

Running out of ‘3 Letter AI Codes!’

In 2014, ICBF decided to move to a new type of AI Code as the traditional 3 letter coding system was literally running out of letters! 3 letter codes were getting further and further away from a bull’s name.

New AI Code Format The new AI codes start with the official 2 letter abbreviation of the bull’s breed (i.e. Charolais:CH). This is then followed by a 4 digit number. The ‘Special Breeding Purposes’ and ‘On-Farm’ collected codes remain unchanged.

CH2066: Derryolam Impeccable Born: 28th October 2013

FR2008: Cappauniac Cremin Born: 2nd March 2014

LM2090: Powerhouse Italic Born: 30th March 2013

35

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Applying for an AI Code All bulls that semen is being used from in Ireland must receive an AI Code from ICBF before the semen can be used. If you are bringing in semen of a bull it is important that you: 1. Ensure that the bull was collected at an EU approved AI Centre.

2. Contact the relevant Breed Society here to get the bull’s ancestry details put onto the database. (If the breed has no Breed Society here then contact ICBF.) 3. Contact ICBF (023-8820452) to inform them that you are bringing in straws of the bull & will require an AI Code.

4. You must then send a sample of DNA from the AI Bull to ICBF. This usually means sending ICBF a dead unused straw from the bull but a hair sample will also suffice.

5. Once ICBF have the genotype from the DNA sample back from the lab and stored in the ICBF database they will then release the bull’s AI Code.

Number of Beef Bulls receiving AI Codes in 2015 Bulls 26 3 1 5 11 1 6 37 1 18 4 38 6 1 1 1 6 28 1 1 4 2 202

36

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

Graph 1 (above) & Table 1 (left): Number of Beef Bulls receiving AI Codes in 2015 A total of 442 bulls received AI Codes in 2015. This was made up of 202 beef bulls and 240 dairy bulls.

200

150

100

SR

NR

NO

MY

MO

JE

HO

0

FR

50

RD

Bulls 6 3 2 1 11 173 22 10 4 5 2 1 240

BS

Name Ayrshire Brown Swiss Dairy Shorthorn Danish Red Friesian Holstein Jersey Montbeliarde MRI Normande Norwegian Red Swedish Red Total

35

Number of Dairy Bulls receiving AI Codes in 2015

Numbers of Dairy bulls receiving AI Codes in 2015 Breed AY BS MS RD FR HO JE MO MY NO NR SR

40

MS

Name Angus Aubrac Bazadais Beef Shorthorn Belgian Blue Belted Galloway Blonde d'Aquitaine Charolais Galloway Hereford Irish Maol Limousin Parthenaise Piedmontese Pustertaler Romagnola Saler Simmental South Devon Speckled Park Wagyu Water Buffalo Total

AY

Breed AA AU BZ SH BB BY BA CH GA HE IM LM PT PI PS RM SA SI SD SP WA BF

AA AU BZ SH BB BY BA CH GA HE IM LM PT PI PS RM SA SI SD SP WA BF

Numbers of Beef bulls receiving AI Codes in 2015

Graph 2 (above) & Table 2 (left): Number of Dairy Bulls receiving AI Codes in 2015

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

ICBF Bull Search

ICBF Bull Search Statistics 2015 1600000

Number of Searches

1400000

There were over 2.25 million Bulls searched for on the ICBF Bull Search in 2015. 1.5 million beef bulls and 740,000 dairy bulls were looked up. In 2014 there were 1.6 million bulls searched for. The reason for this huge increase in searches is due to the large number of beef bulls being looked up for the BDGP.

Stockbull Searches

1200000

AI Bull Searches

1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000 0

Tables 2 and 3 below shows the top 10 beef & dairy bulls searched for in 2015.

Beef

Dairy

%

Table 1: Breakdown of usage of the ICBF Bull Search facility in 2014 & 2015.

The 10 most searched Beef Sires 2015

The 10 most searched Dairy Sires 2015

Rank

Bull

Bull Name

Searches

Rank

Bull

Bull Name

Searches

1

FSZ

Fiston

5,597

1

GZY

Gaddagh Cuddy Reeks

9,946

2

ZAG

Castleview Gazelle

5,442

2

PBM

(IG) Ballinaborta Primo

4,283

3

ADX

Ardlea Dan

5,302

3

WLY

Imleach Lucky Whistler

4,200

4

HCA

Hauteclair

5,102

4

LWR

(IG) Longview Reliable

4,013

5

WGE

Wilodge Cerberus

5,100

5

HZB

(IG) Ballydehob Pat 1356

3,889

6

KJB

Brooklands F0959

5,085

6

SEW

Searoad AWS Pamela 1

3,776

7

APZ

Curaheen Apostle ET

4,621

7

LHZ

(IG) Lauragh Evert

3,297

8

CF52

Doonally New

4,593

8

KSK

(IG) Ballybride Sherlock

2,902

9

LGL

Lisnagre Elite

4,393

9

BGJ

Bagworth PF Grandeur S1F

2,852

10

ONI

On-Dit

4,372

10

HMY

Highmount Kenny

2,751

Step 1 Enter www.icbf.com into your internet address bar.

Step 2 Go to the ‘Bull Search’ and enter the tag number or AI Code of any pedigree bull and click ‘search’. That animal’s most up-to-date €uro-Star figures will then be shown.

37

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

40 years of Beef Performance Testing On the 23rd of March 2014 – The National Beef Performance Test Centre, based in Tully, County Kildare celebrated its 40th birthday. The Centre was officially opened by the then Minister for Agriculture, Mr Mark Clinton on the 23rd of March 1974.

The early days The origins of the National Bull Performance Test Centre at Tully goes back to the 2nd Program for Economic Expansion, published in 1964, it was known as ‘The Brown Book’. Dr Austin Mescal along with Reddy Day, Harry Spain & George Foster wrote a piece in ‘the brown book’ about the setting up of a National Bull Performance Test Centre. They recommended that 100 pedigree beef Bulls should be performance tested. This was achieved in 1973 when the National Bull Performance Test Centre located at Tully, beside Kildare Town first opened its doors to Irish Pedigree Beef Breeders.

Tully enjoyed instant success, particularly due to the sale of Bulls from the Bull Test Centre to Breeders in America. Irish Simmental Breeders were big supporters as it was evident that they could use the Tully figures to improve the price of their bulls to the U.S. The Shorthorn breed also benefited greatly in the trade in Bulls to the States.

Callan Gates through which to feed the bulls were nearly put in from the start so as to gauge how efficient each bull was at converting the feed they were eating into liveweight. Ultrasonic measurements (Backfat & Eye Muscle) and liveweights were taken routinely on the bulls.

Minister Mark Clinton, being shown around the Centre by Ned Sheehy (Chief Inspector) and Denis O’Driscoll (Deputy Chief). UCD Animal Breeding lecturer, Denis Kelleher, is also pictured in the background.

Minister for Agriculture, Mark Clinton, cutting the ribbon to open the National Bull Performance Test Centre at Tully in March 1974.

Hereford Bulls at Tully in 1974.

In the beginning, bulls were individually penned. In the 1980’s this changed and bulls were penned in small groups.

Limousin AI Bull Bluethe AI Bull ‘Tully enjoyed instant success, particularly Belgian due to sale of ‘Hervin’(FL1) – born on the 16th March 1972. He was the ‘Opticien d’Au Chene’ (OUC)’ – born on the 16th September 1985. the Bull Test Centre Hetois inBreeders first everBulls Limousinfrom Bull to receive an AI Code. the ancestry of ain hugeAmerica.’ amount of Belgian Blue cattle.

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

A Simmental bull being held by Pat Flood in the 1970’s.

Dr Al Grogan produced the genetic evaluations on the bulls at Tully for well over 20 years.

An Angus bull in Tully in the 1970’s.

A Hereford bull in Tully in the 1970’s.

A Simmental bull before a Tully Bull sale in 1974.

Charolais bulls before a bull sale in Tully in 1974.

Simmental bulls pre-sale in the 1980’s.

Charolais bulls being halter trained in the 1980’s.

Mr Dave Beehan backfat scanning a Simmental bull at Tully in the 1980’s.

Tully was converted from about 90 single pens to group penning around 1980. Among reasons for the change were increased scale of testing, more commercial housing arrangements and more accurate measurement of feed efficiency.

The late Paul Woods was the Engineer that supervised the restructuring.

In the late 80’s DAFM purchased an Ultrasonic machine from Denmark to measure fat depth and eye-muscle area. The Danes were developing a machine for cattle at the time having successfully employed the same for pigs.

Hair was shaved over the loin at a certain rib. Then gel was applied. The ‘head’ of the scanner was held against the skin and a picture came up on a screen. When a good image appeared on this screen, a screengrab was taken. The roll of film was developed and the fat depth and muscle area were measured from the negatives. (Old Tully photos – courtesy of the Irish Farmers Journal & DAFM).

‘In the late 80’s DAFM purchased an Ultrasonic machine from Denmark to measure fat depth and eye-muscle area’ 40

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

ICBF ICBF took over the running of Tully in the early 2000’s. Breed Societies & ICBF put renewed effort into getting the best possible bulls into Tully. The feeding and management of the bulls was changed with bark mulch stand-off pads being put in. A sales ring and stand was also constructed. Bull Sales were then organized at the end of most of the performance test trials.

Charolais Bull ‘Kilcullen Ted’ who was sold in 2003 for an Irish record price of €23,000. Also pictured is Michael Bailey (PG), Jimmy Kelly (Breeder), Michael Barron (Manager) and Pat Flood (Tully).

Hereford Bull ‘Lisnalurg Vincible’ who was also sold in 2003 for €4,000. Also pictured is Michael Barron (Manager), Peter Casey (Breeder) and Noel Ryan (Dovea AI).

Limousin Bull ‘Milbrook Tanko’ being sold

by William Smith and his father John at the 2004 sale for €15,000.

Number of Pedigree Bulls Performance Tested in Tully (1974-2012) 1400

Breed

Bulls

Breed

Bulls

1200

Angus

251

Piedmontese

13

1000

Aubrac

46

Parthenaise

24

800

Blonde

103

Romagnola

1

600

Blue

89

Saler

85

400

Charolais

892

Shorthorn

17

Hereford

161

Simmental

948

Limousin

1321

Speckled Park

5

Total

3956

Simmental

Speckled Park

Saler

Shorthorn

Romagnola

Parthenaise

Piedmontese

Hereford

Limousin

Charolais

Blonde Blue

%

Aubrac

0

Angus

200

Table 1: Number of pedigree bulls performance tested at Tully (1974-2012).

Up to 4,000 beef bulls were performance tested at Tully with Limousin, Simmental and Charolais being the most popular breed’s to go through the Centre (Table 1).

‘Breed Societies & ICBF put renewed effort into getting the best possible bulls into Tully’ 41

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Changes In 2012 – with a view to getting even more use out of the Centre the following 3 changes were made: 1. In light of the establishment of a new progeny test programme called ‘Gene Ireland’, pedigree bulls were no longer taken in for performance testing. Instead, the commercial progeny of new AI Sires on progeny test are performance tested.

2. ICBF commenced changing the feeding system in Tully to allow for feed intake to be electronically measured and recorded.

3. Meat Eating quality data also commenced being recorded on the carcasses of the animals that are slaughtered after their performance test.

Commercial animal at Tully in 2014

New Insentec electronic feeding system in Tully

Meat eating quality is now also measured on Tully animals post slaughter

Tully today Commercial bulls & bullocks are selected for purchase through the ICBF database. The target is to get 15 progeny from each Gene Ireland Young AI Bull into the Centre. Progeny are also purchased from proven AI Sires. Each animal is DNA’d to confirm its parentage. Nearly 1000 animals have been slaughtered to date (Dec’ 15).

After the cattle are purchased they go through the following steps: 1. Acclimatisation Period (30 days) • This is the period where animals are sorted into groups of 5, fitted with an identification transponder & trained into the feeding system.

• They are also vaccinated for IBR, BVD, RSV, PI3, Blackleg & other Clostridial diseases.

2. Diet • The animals are fed standard commercial concentrates & roughage.

• The concentrates have 14% protein (Energy Content; UFL:0.955 & UFV:0.935) • Bulls are fed ad-libitum concentrates & a small amount of hay.

• Bullocks are fed ad-libitum hay & 8kgs of concentrates.

• All animals are fed morning and evening.

3. Performance Test Measures (90 days) • All animals are individually identified when they go to feed and can only feed on their own. The amount that each animal eats in a day is weighed. Each animal is also weighed regularly so the amount of feed that each animal requires to put on a kilo of weight can be calculated, giving us the results of 2 of our most important animal performance measurements: ‘Feed Conversion Efficiency’ & ‘Average Daily Gain’.

• Linear Scores, Scrotal Circumference, muscle, fat depth & intramuscular fat measurements are also taken on every animal.

4. Health & Disease Traits • Lameness, Genetic Defect & Pneumonia data is also collected.

‘Commercial bulls & bullocks are selected for purchase through the ICBF database’ 42

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 5. Carcass & Meat Eating Quality • After cattle are slaughtered in Tully, steaks are cut from the striploin of the aged carcasses and used to evaluate meat eating quality. These steaks are assessed for tenderness, juiciness and flavour by a trained panel of 10 trained assessors. In addition, the steaks undergo a number of laboratory-based measures of eating quality characteristics.

• This work hopes to answer the following questions; – ‘Are there considerable differences in meat eating quality between our animals?’

– ‘If there are differences, are these in some way due to the animal’s genetics?’.

6. Genomics • All of the animals are genotyped using the customised IDB Version 2 chip (17k markers).

The Performance Test Centre has a maximum capacity of 250 animals on-site at the same time. Animals are moved in and out in batches. So when one batch of 50-60 animals are being slaughtered, another batch of the same size is just starting its performance test. The numbers of commercial animals from each breed that go through Tully is reflective of each breed’s AI usage in the national commercial suckler population. Table 2 shows the numbers of commercial progeny that have gone through Tully between 2012 and 2015, broken down by breed & by Sire. In just 3 years, 958 commercial beef animals with 203 AI Sires across 14 breeds have been performance tested.

MLJ ‘Mogeely Joe’ was himself performance tested at Tully and has had 21 commercial progeny performance tested through the Centre by the end of 2015.

DRU ‘Derrough Samual’ was himself performance tested at Tully and has had 20 commercial progeny performance tested through the Centre by the end of 2015.’

CWI ‘Castleview Casino’ was performance tested at Tully and has had 28 commercial progeny performance tested through the Centre by the end of 2015.

FHZ ‘Fakir de L’hez Kernai’ has had 20 commercial progeny performance tested through the Centre by the end of 2015

CF85 ‘Balthazar’ has had 25 commercial progeny performance tested through the Centre by the end of 2015

CBQ ‘Cambridge’ was himself performance tested at Tully and has had 13 commercial progeny performance tested through the Centre by the end of 2015.

43

44

MLJ GJB RWB ZFL DVE KYA LZE TFX CUI GIP LFG LSC LWS MTL KTG S258 SYT ZTP KCE LHI WOA BUH LYH FHZ STQ BBQ VDV EKB VMP KYR RFC AJY AZL BYU CEQ CGG DBZ

AI Code

MOGEELY JOE H979 GOULDING JUMBO KING K436 ET RAWBURN LORD ROCKET F609 LISDUFF DANDY K895 DRUMDEEVIN DANCER CORNAMUCKLA LORD HARDY K222 LANIGAN RED BLAZE ET THREEBURNFORD LEANDER F286 COLCAGH UNION GOULDING PHILIP H339 LUDDENMORE FIONN G441 LISS MIRT C476 LAWSONS ROMEO C938 MINIT OF LISS KEELTIES GALLIANO MAINE DRAGON SANDYLANE TADGH TUBRIDMORE PRIDE K415 KILMONEY BRUCE LOUGH HARRIER COURTWOOD AIDAN BUDORE UTAH LOCHHEAD TYSON FAKIR DE L'HEZ KERNAI SULTAN 0580 BALLYFIN BORAT (ET) MASERATI VAN DE VLOEIKENSHOEVE BARCO VD EINDEKENS VILLABLUES EMPIRE ET KUBITUS DE BRAY RINGFORT CORMAC ET ADAJIO DE BRAY ROSS ALO (ET) BLAK 5075 BATY EPRAVE COLOSSE ET DES TOURELLE CABARET 7788 GRIGEOULE MANITOU DE BELLE EAU

Bull Name

Breed AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA AA BA BA BA BA BA BB BB BB BB BB BB BB BB BB BB BB BB BB BB

21 9 9 7 5 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 8 2 2 1 1 20 20 14 11 9 8 6 6 4 3 3 3 3 3

CF85 CSQ LGL DEZ PTE FSZ LZF MZT TUT RHI FWO CXY HWN MVO PBT FYB ICR KIB NPP ULH ALU CF71 FMA MDO OSC OSI CF60 CF61 DLJ DWF DZP FGG GHX GTN HUH IC26 KLU

Progeny AI gone through Code Tully BALTHAZAR CROSSMOLINA EURO LISNAGRE ELITE (ET) COTTAGE DEVON PIRATE FISTON CAVELANDS FENIAN MOZART THRUNTON NOSTRADAMUS ROUNDHILL DOC 1068 (ET) FLEETWOOD CLOVERFIELD EXCELENT HOLLOWTREE NICKOLAS MANDELA VERON (ET) PRIME ROBERTO BALLYLANNON FRANKEY ET ICARE LIMKILN BOSCO NIPPUR ULRICH ANNESKEAGH ULYSSES BALTHAZAR FARMAN MOGADOR OSCAR OLDGRANGE SINDURAIN LTINTIN ALEX DRUMLONE JUST THE JOB DONCAMILLO DRUMCULLEN DUKE LEAGAUN FIGARO GOLDSTAR ECHO DOVEA GIN TONIC HUTCH ROYAL VISCOUNT KILBLINE_1 CUPIDON (ET)

Bull Name

Breed CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH CH

25 15 14 11 10 9 8 8 8 7 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

CWI KJB ADX FL21 ERE PAM NHL OZS RHF HCA CVV MBP EFZ UTL FL22 FZM TVR FL27 FTY FTH CZH GZP ODZ UBN ZEN ION ONI ROX TKO AHZ FL25 LTZ MBV MXF RHN S666 S937

Progeny AI gone through Code Tully CASTLEVIEW CASINO (ET) BROOKLANDS F0959 ARDLEA DAN ARITA - BEN ELITE ERASMUS ET PALMARES NETHERHALL EPIC OZEUS ROUNDHILL DARA 1069 HAUTECLAIR CASTLEVIEW VIRULENT (ET) MILBROOK DARTANGAN ET ELITE FLAG ET ULTIME RI ARCHIBEAU LENAGH EQUALISER ELITE FOREVER BRILL ET BONUS LENNON FROSTY ELITE FRED ET CARMORN DAUPHIN GRAHAMS APACHE ODERIM UTILE- BEN BENZENE IONESCO ON- DIT ROCKY MILBROOK TANKO ACHILE BUT LACET MILBROOK VIC MILBROOK FILIO ET ROUNDHILL SATURN ET VERMEIL CHYTODDEN CONAN

Bull Name

Breed LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM 28 22 20 20 18 18 17 17 17 15 14 12 10 9 8 8 8 7 6 5 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Progeny gone through Tully

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Table 2: Numbers of commercial progeny of AI Sires Performance Tested 2012 – 2015

RBW S527 SFL SZS BIV CVY DEP RWM VDF WKF AKH BLQ CGF EVG FDI GUA GUY IDB MNZ ODY S671 S756 S970 SPV GZS KHO CZB KVG ALO LTY SFT

AI Code

BARBIER ACCORD DE WIHOGNE DU STORDEUR FLANEUR SATYRE DE SOMME BIENVENU DE JOLIJEAN CHATHAM VAN DESPOTE DE L'EAU D'EPPE ROSEMOUNT EMLYN VIGOUREUX ET DE ST FONTAINE WACKO VH BEEKHOF ADHEMAR VD SLINDONCKHOEV BOHERARD BULLSEYE (ET) CASTLECUFF BRADLEY EVERGREEN CHESTNUT (ET) FERMENT 9709 DES TIENNES GARRACLOONAGH URETYSON GENERAL DU GORTIL GAYOT ILOT DU BOUCHELET MAGNOLIA 0103 DE SOMME ORME DE SOMME JULIUS ET DU PRE ROSINE TAMHORN WARRIOR ET CANADIAN CLUB KERKENHOFSTEDE SPRINGHILL VAGABOND ET GOULDINGPOLL 1 SUPERDUTY ET KILRONAN HOSEA CREAGA DICE (P)(ROAN) KILFRUSH VANTAGE 2ND ANNALY LEO CHAPELTON LIBERTY SEAFIELD TITAN (RO)

Bull Name

Breed BB 3 BB 3 BB 3 BB 3 BB 2 BB 2 BB 2 BB 2 BB 2 BB 2 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 BB 1 HE 2 HE 1 SH 4 SH 2 SH 1 SH 1 SH 1 REP UNV VGO VHC APZ DRU IS4 SEV KFY CQA SXD HKG QCD OWZ TBE ANJ AS12 CUF HTY KDD MIF ROE S546 BHU RIO DZJ LZR OUR PZB S804

Progeny AI gone through Code Tully REPAIR COOLNASLEE UNIVERSE VAGABOND CELTIC VICHY (ET) CURAHEEN APOSTLE ET DERROUGH SAMUAL SEEPA TEE JAY SEAVIEW TOMMY KILBRIDE FARM NEWRY CURAHEEN VIO (ET) STEINADLER HILLCREST KING CLOONDROON CALLING OMORGA BALDWIN 10 DELFUR T- BONE ANATRIM JACOB PLANET CAMUS FRONTIER HILLCREST NAUGHTY KEALOD DESMOND MILTON LORD- TIFFANY ET MONESS ROSCOE SAMARK SUPERMAN BALLYMACKEOGH HUGH RIO DRUMLEGAGH DENNIS LATASTER ERIC CORLURGAN OURSON (FR 02) BONAPARTE KNOCKANE UPROAR (ET)

Bull Name

Breed CH 1 CH 1 CH 1 CH 1 SI 25 SI 20 SI 17 SI 12 SI 6 SI 5 SI 5 SI 4 SI 3 SI 2 SI 2 SI 1 SI 1 SI 1 SI 1 SI 1 SI 1 SI 1 SI 1 SA 17 SA 5 SA 2 SA 2 SA 1 SA 1 SP 1

SCI THZ VKG VZN ABI BHO FL29 FQR FTN GTA GUX HTA OLI OMA ORS SIX STN TON ULE ULM VVI CBQ BZB VUL IRX SNX KCP LRY S848 PET IBO

Progeny AI gone through Code Tully SOUCI TOWTHORPE DUBAI VIKING VISON AMPERTAINE BRIGADEER BREEMOUNT HULIO CHOUCHOU BALLYGARVAN STUD FERNANDO FESTIN GEANT GENEREUX HORTENSIA OLIVER OMAR OURSON SIAM STRONG LITRON ULYSSE ULM VIVALDI CAMBRIDGE BOLIDE VULAIN SIREX SANSONNET KYLE CHAP LISNAGRANCHY CARLO ARBITRE PETER IBISCO

Bull Name

Breed LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM LM PT PT PT PT PT PT PT MA MY PI

2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 13 4 3 2 2 1 1 5 1 3

Progeny gone through Tully

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Table 2: continued...

45

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Performance Centre Results The weight, growth, feed efficiency & carcass data recorded on the animals at Tully flows into their sire’s €uro-Star evaluations. The trait that gets most benefit from the performance test is ‘Feed Efficiency’ which has a weighting of 18% in the ‘Replacement Index’. The data also allows us to continuously check that the genetic indexes are working and that the offspring of AI Sires with high stars are on average outperforming those bulls with low star ratings. What has been found in general when the cattle are being slaughtered is that; The 5 Star animals: • Had very similar weights to the 1 star animals at the start of test.

• Had very similar weights to the 1 star animals at the end of test.

• Were fit for slaughter earlier than the 1 star animals.

• Had slightly lower average daily gains than the 1 star animals.

• Consumed less feed than the 1 star animals.

• Had higher ‘Carcass weights’ and ‘Kill out %’ results than the 1 star animals.

• Yielded more ‘High value cuts’ (Round & Sirloin) than the 1 star animals.

• Yielded more ‘Very high value cuts’ (Fillet & Striploin) than the 1 star animals.

Education Now that Tully is performance testing commercial beef animals, it has opened itself up to Commercial farmers as well as Pedigree Breeders as a shop window for the Irish beef breeding industry. Several groups of beef farmers and industry representatives now visit Tully on a regular basis to learn about the most recent developments in Beef breeding in Ireland.

ICBF CEO – Sean Coughlan addressing visitors on a tour of the Centre.

Stephen Conroy (ICBF) explaining performance testing to a group at Tully.

The purpose built viewing stand full of interested farmers at a Tully Information day’

A large crowd at one of the many Tully Open Days.

‘The 5 Star animals had higher ‘Carcass Weights’, ‘Kill out %’, and ‘Feed efficiency’ results than the 1 star animals’ 46

2014 Beef & Dairy Breed STATISTICS Beef Pedigree Statistics Numbers of Beef Pedigree calves and Pedigree Breeders in the main beef breeds in 2014.........................................49 Numbers of Beef Pedigree calves born in Ireland in 2014 – analysed by breed and by country of origin of sire ............50 Pedigree Registration trends in 2013 & 2014 ..........................................................................................................51 Numbers of AI Sires & Stockbulls used to sire Beef Pedigree calves born in 2014 ......................................................52 The most popular sires of pedigree beef calves in 2014 ...........................................................................................54 Numbers of Beef Pedigree calves born in Ireland in 2014 – analysed by breed & by country of origin of Dam ..............56 Number of pedigree ET calves born in 2014 ............................................................................................................57 Number of Speciality/Rare breed pedigree animals born in 2014...............................................................................59

National Statistics Total number of calves sired by beef bulls in 2014 ...................................................................................................62 Total number of beef sired calves out of the beef herd in 2014 .................................................................................63 Total number of beef sired calves out of the dairy herd in 2014.................................................................................64 Total number of calves out of beef cows in 2014......................................................................................................65 Insemination & Stockbull usage stats 2014..............................................................................................................66 The most popular Beef AI Sires in Suckler herds in 2014 ..........................................................................................69 The most popular Beef AI Sires in Dairy herds in 2014 .............................................................................................69

Dairy Pedigree Statistics Numbers of Dairy Pedigree calves born in Ireland in 2014 – analysed by breed and by country of origin of sire ...........71 Total numbers of Dairy Sired calves out of the dairy herd – born in 2014...................................................................72 The most popular Dairy AI Sires in Dairy herds in 2014 ............................................................................................73

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Beef & Dairy Breed Statistics 2014 The following article gives detailed statistics about the number of pedigree & commercial cattle born in Ireland in 2014.

It also gives the AI & Stockbull usage of the main beef breeds as well as other relevant national beef statistics.

Charolais AI Bull ‘Shamrock Ambassadeur’(CF12) – born on the 5th of February 1965. He was one of the first and most influential Charolais AI Sires.

Angus AI Bull ‘Sunset Acres Bang’ (SUB) – born on the 23rd of April 1986. He was one of the most influential bulls used in the Angus breed in Ireland.

Simmental AI Bull ‘Brington Brilliant’ (BKI) – born on the 11th of July 1991.

He was an influential bull in the Simmental breed in Ireland in the 1990’s.

Hereford AI Bull ‘Doonbiddie Hustler’ (S141) – born on the 4th of September 1996, he was a very popular bull in the Hereford breed in the 2000’s

Limousin AI Bull ‘Hervin’(FL1) – born on the 16th March 1972. He was the first ever Limousin Bull to receive an AI Code.

Belgian Blue AI Bull ‘Opticien d’Au Chene’ (OUC)’ – born on the 16th September 1985.

He is in the ancestry of a huge amount of Belgian Blue cattle.

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Pedigree Cattle Statistics - 2014 Main Beef Breeds Origins Breeders

Current Numbers Calves Born in 2014

UK

570

3635

1829

UK

306

1177

Angus

1843

UK

1786

7946

Charolais

1964

France

2409

8709

Simmental

1971

Austria

700

2266

Limousin

1972

France

2355

8765

Blonde d’Aquitaine

1974

France

95

352

Belgian Blue

1980

Belgium

300

428

Piedmontese

1982

Italy

40

214

Aubrac

1992

France

127

450

Salers

1997

France

205

808

Parthenaise

1997

France

75

307

Total

8968

35057

Breed

First Imported

Hereford

1775

Shorthorn

Origin

Table 1: Origin, year of first importation & current numbers of the main beef breeds in Ireland.

Table 1 summary: • Of the beef breeds that have been brought into Ireland - the Hereford, Shorthorn & Angus breeds are here by far the longest.

• The continental beef breeds first started to be imported in the 1960’s and 70’s. Charolais, Simmental, Limousin & Blonde d’Aquitaine were the breeds that were first brought into Ireland.

• The 1980’s & 90’s saw 5 more foreign breeds introduced to these shores – namely Belgian Blue, Piedmontese, Aubrac, Salers & Parthenaise.

Hereford, Angus & Shorthorn are 3 of the main breeds in use today that have been in Ireland the longest.

Pictured right is the Shorthorn AI Sire ‘Tournament Sir James’ (TSJ).

49

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

15

Belgium

294 6

9

Denmark

1

France

281

37

3258

11 1792

Germany Ireland

152

169

166

65

4416

3160

4836

5 153

Italy

174

386

944

1 1425

149

69

1035

286

2106

2

13

USA

223

599

1

Pedigree Calf Totals by Breed

7946

450

352

428

8709

3635

8765

307

214

808

1177

% of main Pedigree Beef Breeds

23%

1%

1%

1%

25%

10%

25%

1%

1.0%

2%

4%

187

0.5%

15

0.04%

294

0.8%

17

0.04%

19

0.05%

5929

16%

25

0.07%

1638 22622

40

New Zealand UK

409

20 6515

2

% of Totals

Austria

Canada

Simmental

Shorthorn

Saler

Piedmontese

Parthenaise

Limousin

187

Pedigree Calf Totals by Sire Origin

Australia

Hereford

Charolais

B.Blue

Blonde

Aubrac

Origin of Sires

Angus

Numbers of Beef Pedigree* Calves born in 2014

65%

40

0.1%

1

0.002%

5907

17%

1

0.002%

2266 35057 6%

*Pedigree: Any calf whose breed fraction is 100% of the same breed and has a name.

Table 2: Numbers of Beef Pedigree calves born in Ireland in 2014 – analysed by breed & by country of Origin of Sire.

Table 2 summary: • Almost 90% of all pedigree beef calves come from 5 breeds: Limousin, Charolais, Angus, Hereford & Simmental.

– The remaining 10% of calves are from 7 different breeds: Aubrac, Blonde d’Aquitaine, Belgian Blue, Parthenaise, Piedmontese, Saler & Shorthorn (Graph 1).

• 65% of all pedigree calves born in 2014 were sired by Irish Sires.

• Consequently, 35% of all pedigree calves, across the breeds, born in 2014, were sired by foreign sires.

– These foreign Sires originated from 11 different countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, UK & USA (Graph 2).

– Within the various breeds, the proportion of calves sired by foreign sires varies from 13% (Hereford) to 85% (Belgian Blue) (Graph 3).

50

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Proportion of 2014 Pedigree Beef Calves born by Breed

Countries of Origin for Sires of 2014 born Pedigree Calves

10000

80 70

8000

60 50

6000

40 4000

30 20

2000

10 0

Calves

LM CH AA HE SI

0

SH SA AU BB BA PT PI

8765 8709 7946 3635 2266 1177 808

450

428 352

307 214

%

France

UK

Ireland

9 Other Countries

16%

17%

65%

2%

Graph 1: Proportion of Pedigree beef calves born in each breed in 2014.

Graph 2: Distribution of Countries of origin for the Sires of the 2014 born pedigree calves.

Pedigree Calf Birth Trends 2013 - 2014 (LM, CH, AA, HE, SI, SH)

Pedigree Calf Birth Trends 2013 - 2014 (SA, AU, BB, BA, PT, PI)

10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 2013 2014

Limousin Charolais 8841 8765

8508 8709

Angus 7570 7946

Hereford Simmental Shorthorn 3176 3635

2278 2266

1046 1177

Graph 3.1: Pedigree Calf birth trends for Limousin, Charolais, Angus, Hereford, Simmental & Shorthorn.

900 810 720 630 540 450 360 270 180 90 0 2013 2014

Salers 769 808

Aubrac Belgian Blue Blonde Parthenaise Piedmontese 436 450

516 428

355 352

299 307

156 214

Graph 3.2: Pedigree Calf birth trends for Saler, Aubrac, Belgian Blue, Parthenaise & Piedmontese.

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 %

AA AU BA BB CH HE LM PT

PI SA SH SI Avg.

18% 63% 53% 85% 50% 13% 45% 50% 19% 52% 20% 18% 41%

Graph 3: Percentage of 2014 born Pedigree Calves that were sired by Foreign Sires..

The UK is the number 1 source for foreign sires of pedigree stock in 2014.Pictured above:UK Hereford Bull, ‘Solpoll 1 Lawman’ (HE2162) from Irish AI Company ‘Dunmasc Genetics’.

‘Almost 90% of all pedigree beef calves born in 2014 came from 5 breeds – Limousin, Charolais, Angus, Hereford & Simmental’ 51

Stock Bull

Stock Bull

AI Sire

12

21

48

9

Table 3: Numbers of AI Sires & Stockbulls used to sire Beef Pedigree calves born in 2014

*Pedigree: Any calf whose breed fraction is 100% of the same breed and has a name. Only breeds with at least 100 registrations in the ICBF database included.

1

262

110

46%

1

372

36% 64% 30% 70% 33% 67% 91% 9% 68% 32% 33% 67% 67% 33% 42% 58% 35% 65% 40% 60% 65% 35% 54%

84

2

14

1

1

3183

2777

% Sired by AI / Stockbull

27

2

406

5

35,057

38

1

47 120 59 166

1

2847 5099 137 313 116 236 391 37 5892 2817 1187 2448 5847 2918 130 177 281 527 476 701 1471 795 18,809 16,248

13

19 236 790 89 325 217 720 31

55

68

4

404

Progeny Totals

79

12

9

4

1

81

7

4053

47

8

27

2

323

1

8

2971

25

37

7

14

6

0

47

1

62 141 116 177 1082

65

1

1

60 748 65 316 49 699

21

1

8

0

0

10

165 552 22

16

16

24

4

2

47

1

0

Sire Totals

13

33

8

2

1

10

AI Sire Stock Bull Grand Totals Totals Totals

Origin of Sires Totals

1

9

8

2

110

Shorthorn Simmental

USA

UK

34

51

AI Sire 139 34

AI Sire 1

Stock Bull

1

1

AI Sire 8

1

AI Sire

New Zealand 71

AI Sire 21

AI Sire 10

AI Sire

Saler Stock Bull

13

90 518

4

AI Sire 47

18

Blonde Stock Bull

10

B.Blue Stock Bull

1

Charolais Stock Bull

14

Hereford Stock Bull

Aubrac AI Sire

Italy

Ireland

Germany

France

Denmark

Canada

Belgium

Austria

Australia

Limousin Parthenaise Stock Bull

Angus Stock Bull

Number of AI Sires & Stockbulls

AI Sire

52 Stock Bull

Origin of Sires

Numbers of AI Sires & Stockbulls used to sire Beef Pedigree* Calves born in 2014 ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

‘41% of all pedigree beef calves born in 2014 were sired by Foreign Bulls, who came from 11 different countries’

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Table 3 (Previous page) summary: • 54% of all pedigree calves are sired by AI Sires.

– Within the various breeds, the proportion of calves sired by AI Sires ranges from 16% (Piedmontese) to 91% (Belgian Blue) (Graph 4).

• 46% of calves were sired by Stockbulls.

– Within the various breeds, the proportion of calves sired by Stockbulls ranges from 9% (Belgian Blue) to 84% (Piedmontese) (Graph 5).

% of 2014 born Pedigree Calves sired by AI Sires

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Graph 4: Percentage of 2014 born Pedigree Calves that were sired by AI Sires.

Avg

Simmental

Saler

Shorthorn

Parthenaise

Piedmontese

Hereford

Limousin

32% 67% 33% 58% 84% 65% 60% 35% 54%

Charolais

B.Blue

64% 70% 67% 9%

Blonde

%

Aubrac

0

Angus

Avg

Simmental

Saler

Shorthorn

Piedmontese

Limousin

Parthenaise

Hereford

B.Blue

Charolais

Blonde

36% 30% 33% 91% 68% 33% 67% 42% 16% 35% 40% 65% 46%

Aubrac

%

90

Angus

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

% of 2014 born Pedigree Calves sired by Stockbulls

Graph 5: Percentage of 2014 born Pedigree Calves that were sired by Stockbulls.

AI Bulls at Dovea AI Centre

‘54% of all pedigree calves born in 2014 were sired by AI Sires’

53

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Popular Beef AI Sires – 2014 Table 4: The following tables shows the most popular sires of pedigree calves in 2014.

Angus Rank Brd

ID

Country of Origin

Aubrac Name

Pedigree Rank Brd Calves

ID

Country of Origin

Name

Pedigree Calves

1

AA GJB

IRL

GOULDING JUMBO KING K436 ET

362

1

AU FR1210002490

FRA

FOUR CANDLES 2490

35

2

AA MLJ

IRL

MOGEELY JOE H979

225

2

AU DPZ

FRA

DESPAGNOU

30

3

AA FPI

IRL

FRIARSTOWN IDEAL PETE K202 ET

195

3

AU FR1531087637

FRA

BALINCLEA GALAXI

25

4

AA KYA

IRL

CORNAMUCKLA LORD HARDY K222

127

4

AU FR1527118672

FRA

CAPORAL

18

5

AA ZFL

IRL

LISDUFF DANDY K895

113

5

AU S833

FRA

ROUSSEL

17

6

AA CYI

IRL

CONEYISLAND LEGEND

112

6

AU S1463

FRA

DOLBY

15

7

AA AYR

GBR

AYNHO ROSSITER ERIC B125

98

7

AU IE391032030827 IRL

DREYLANDS FRED

14

8

AA TQL

IRL

TEMPLEQUAIN LORD JAKE K798

92

8

AU IE391114050008 IRL

BALLINCLEA GOLDFIN

12

9

AA S1208

GBR

NETHERTON MR BRAZILIAN E377

86

9

AU FR1205009458

FRA

ALTAMONT AVERYON

12

GBR

ROSEMEAD KARONA J957

66

10 AU S1464

FRA

FENADOU

11

Total

1476

Total

189

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

19%

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

42%

10 AA RMK

Blonde d'Aquitaine Rank Brd

ID

Country of Origin

Belgian Blue Name

Pedigree Rank Brd Calves

ID

Country of Origin

Name

Pedigree Calves

1

BA UK163874400109 GBR

CHARBECK GLENN

53

1

BB S1217

BEL

KILOWATT D OCHAIN

33

2

BA IE341052760995 IRL

GLENWOOD EARL

25

2

BB S1109

GBR

SOLWAY VIEW DYNAMITE (ET)

31

3

BA UK933022408556 GBR

BALLYGOWAN FONZ

25

3

BB AJY

BEL

ADAJIO DE BRAY

20

4

BA S1266

ANETO

17

4

BB AFF

BEL

ATTRIBUT DU FOND DE BOIS

20

5

BA IE211355251002 IRL

CLIFDEN DOUGAL

16

5

BB EZN

BEL

EMPIRE D'OCHAIN

19

6

BA S985

GBR

BLACKWATER AINSLEY

15

6

BB S1216

BEL

IMMENSE D YVOIR

18

7

BA S984

GBR

FRONFEDW ARAWN

11

7

BB S1523

BEL

LANGOUREUX DE FOOZ

15

8

BA UK912178506412 GBR

DRUMRAYMOND GRAFTER

10

8

BB S847

BEL

JACKPOT 9831 ET TER REYBROECK

14

9

BA IE201250610380 IRL

CLONDOWN BIVER

9

9

BB S964

BEL

LOTTO VD VLOEIKENSHOEVE

13

CLONDOWN DEVAN

9

10 BB S598

BEL

HEROS DU PEROY

12

Total

195

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

46%

GBR

10 BA IE201250690413 GBR

Total

190

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

54%

Charolais Rank Brd

ID

Country of Origin

Hereford Name

Pedigree Rank Brd Calves

ID

Country of Origin

Name

Pedigree Calves

1

CH LGL

IRL

LISNAGRE ELITE (ET)

475

1

HE GZS

IRL

GOULDINGPOLL 1 SUPERDUTY ET

154

2

CH PTE

FRA

PIRATE

419

2

HE KSG

IRL

KILSUNNY GOLIATH

150

3

CH NPP

FRA

NIPPUR

323

3

HE GSQ

IRL

GLASLOUGH ESQUIRE

94

4

CH S750

GBR

THRUNTON BONJOVI

195

4

HE CRP

IRL

CARHUEFREE PRINCE

69

5

CH CF52

FRA

DOONALLY NEW

173

5

HE S1563

IRL

KYE RODGE 553 HYF

66

6

CH FSZ

FRA

FISTON

168

6

HE IE211134670562 IRL

BALLEEN JERRY

56

7

CH LSP

IRL

LISCALLY ETI (ET)

163

7

HE IE281526150344 IRL

RATHREGAN UPGRADER

50

8

CH LZF

IRL

CAVELANDS FENIAN

150

8

HE IE281288610497 IRL

ARDMULCHAN HIMALAGAN

47

9

CH PBT

IRL

PRIME ROBERTO

136

9

HE FRZ

GBR

SOLPOLL 1 FERRARI

43

10 CH DEZ

IRL

COTTAGE DEVON

131

10 HE DPS

GBR

DOREPOLL 1 93N TRANSATLANTIC

42

Total

2333

Total

771

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

27%

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

21%

54

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Table 4: continued...

Limousin Rank Brd

ID

Country of Origin

Parthenaise Name

Pedigree Rank Brd Calves

ID

Country of Origin

Name

Pedigree Calves

1

LM ADX

IRL

ARDLEA DAN

286

1

PT FR7968770729

FRA

BUFFALO

17

2

LM S511

GBR

FIELDSON ALFY

243

2

PT IE141855150222

IRL

FIANNA HERD CAJOU

17

3

LM WGE

GBR

WILODGE CERBERUS

243

3

PT LRY

IRL

LISNAGRANCHY CARLO

14

4

LM TVR

IRL

ELITE FOREVER BRILL ET

241

4

PT S1416

FRA

BALTO

13

5

LM HCF

GBR

HALTCLIFFE DANCER

210

5

PT FR8605115150

FRA

AZIMUT

12

6

LM MBP

IRL

MILBROOK DARTANGAN ET

175

6

PT FR8609389829

FRA

FANFARON

12

7

LM GWO

IRL

CASTLEVIEW GRINGO ET

153

7

PT TPL

FRA

TI LAPIN

10

8

LM S1421

GBR

AMPERTAINE FOREMAN

149

8

PT IE241096770499

IRL

GALTEE GLADIATOR

10

9

LM ONI

FRA

ON-DIT

138

9

PT S1477

IRL

DRUMCULLEN BRENDAN

9

10

LM OZS

FRA

OZEUS

134

10

PT IE221002131279

IRL

BOLEY HOUSE GUY

Total

1972

Total

123

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

22%

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

40%

Salers Rank Brd

ID

Country of Origin

9

Simmental Name

Pedigree Rank Brd Calves

ID

Country of Origin

Name

Pedigree Calves

1

SA S827

FRA

VARIEGEOIS

42

1

SI APZ

IRL

CURAHEEN APOSTLE ET

202

2

SA FR1933470315

FRA

EDMOND (FR 13)

35

2

SI CQA

IRL

CURAHEEN VIO (ET)

118

3

SA S1209

FRA

BRONSON

33

3

SI KFY

GBR

KILBRIDE FARM NEWRY

70

4

SA PZB

FRA

BONAPARTE

30

4

SI ZBF

IRL

CURAHEEN BOSSMAN

68

5

SA FR6345807884

FRA

CHARLEMAGN (FR 07)

26

5

SI ISL

GBR

ISLAVALE CRACKER 11

63

6

SA GQZ

FRA

GAROU

24

6

SI S1144

IRL

CURAHEEN WAKEMAN (ET)

57

7

SA FR1526337733

FRA

BURON (FR 07)

21

7

SI KEZ

GBR

KEELDRUM CAPONE 11

52

8

SA KKB

IRL

BALLYMACKEOGH LUCAS

20

8

SI SEV

IRL

SEAVIEW TOMMY

50

9

SA FR4310000053

FRA

GAVROCHE (FR 12)

19

9

SI S699

GBR

BANWY T-REX

36

10

SA IE371214671136

IRL

KNOTTOWN LEO

18

10

SI AYX

IRL

ANATRIM BODYBUILDER

36

Total

268

Total

752

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

33%

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

33%

Piedmontese Rank Brd

ID

Country of Origin

Shorthorn Name

Pedigree Rank Brd Calves

ID

Country of Origin

Name

Pedigree Calves

1

PI IE251358610611

IRL

KILCOURSEY FRED

34

1

SH CZB

IRL

CREAGA DICE (P)(ROAN)

72

2

PI IE331404590178

IRL

ATHLOMON I-KRIPPER

34

2

SH SBU

IRL

SLIABHBHUI PRINCE 2ND

68

3

PI IE331411680726

IRL

CLOUGHSAN HOMER

20

3

SH S1498

AUS

SPRYS PATENTS ACE G38 (P)

46

4

PI IE331411650707

IRL

CLOUGHSAN GORDON

19

4

SH PZT

AUS

PAINTEARTH RAMA 53U (P)

35

5

PI IE331411690784

IRL

CLOUGHSAN INDIGO

15

5

SH SFT

IRL

SEAFIELD TITAN (RO)

32

6

PI IE331411610769

IRL

CLOUGHSAN INSPECTOR

12

6

SH KKJ

IRL

KILKELLY MAJOR

22

7

PI IE211106090016

IRL

KILREE GRINGO

11

7

SH IE272057390145

IRL

GLANN THOMAS (RO)

18

8

PI IE331411620729

IRL

CLOUGHSAN HARVEY

7

8

SH IE181867450249

IRL

CREAGA FLASH (RED) P

17

9

PI IE201121540338

IRL

BALLYCAGHAN ENZO

6

9

SH IE241198690216

IRL

BALLYART PATENT (RO)

17

10

PI IT004990344039

ITA

OLIMPO

6

10

SH UK904201202683

GBR

UPPERMILL MADDISON (P)

17

Total

164

Total

344

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

76%

% of all 2014 born pedigree calves

29%

Table 4 summary: • The proportion of calves sired by the top 10 most popular bulls varies across the various beef breeds.

• On average, across all of the breeds, the 10 most popular bulls sired 37% of the pedigree calves.

‘On average, about 37% of a breed’s pedigree calf crop is sired by just 10 Bulls’ 55

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 % of 2014 born Pedigree Calves that were sired by the 10 most popular sires in each breed

BELOW: ‘Charbeck Glenn’ – Most popular Sire of Pedigree Blonde d’Aquitaine calves in Ireland in 2014 (Glenwood Blondes).

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10

Avg

Simmental

Saler

Shorthorn

Piedmontese

Parthenaise

Hereford

Limousin

B.Blue

Charolais

Blonde

Angus

19% 42% 54% 46% 27% 21% 22% 40% 76% 33% 29% 33% 37%

Aubrac

0 %

Graph 6: Percentage of 2014 born Pedigree Calves that were sired by the 10 most popular sires in each breed.

54% of pedigree Blonde d’Aquitaine calves born in 2014 were sired by 10 bulls.

Dams – Countries of Origin Countries of origin for Dams of Beef Pedigree* Calves born in 2014 Simmental

Pedigree Calf Totals by Dam Origin

% of Totals

Shorthorn

Saler

Piedmontese

Parthenaise

Limousin

Hereford

Charolais

B.Blue

Blonde

Aubrac

Origin of Dams

Angus

Numbers of Pedigree Calves

2

2

0.005%

3

0.005%

2

0.005%

7

0.02%

541

1.5%

19

0.05%

42

0.10%

542

1.5%

Austria Belgium Canada

2

1

2

Denmark

6

France

64

2

1

68

185

71

151

Germany

19

Italy UK Ireland Pedigree Calf Totals

by Breed

42 82

1

44

32

103

6648

386

307

393

6732

451

353

427

25

143

1

4

13

42

52

8470 3610 8482

237

170

648

1135 3413 33899 96.0%

8641 3641 8811

309

216

812

1177 3487 35057 100.0%

*Pedigree: Any calf whose breed fraction is 100% of the same breed and has a name.

Table 5: Numbers of Beef Pedigree calves born in Ireland in 2014 - analysed by breed & by country of Origin of Dam. Table 5 summary: • Not surprisingly, 96% of all the dams of pedigree beef calves born in 2014 are Irish.

• The majority of the foreign pedigree dams come from the UK and France with the remainder coming from Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany & Italy (Graph 7).

‘Only 4% of the Dam’s of Irish Pedigree beef calves were themselves imported into Ireland’ 56

Countries of origin for Dams of 2014 born pedigree calves 100 80 60 40 20 0 %

France

UK

Ireland

6 Other Countries

1.5%

1.5%

96%

1%

Graph 7: Distribution of Countries of origin for the Dams of the 2014 born pedigree calves.

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

ET – Embryo Transfer Calves Number of Pedigree ET Calves born in 2014 % of 2014 calves ET Calves

AA

BB

CH

HE

LM

PT

SA

SH

SI

Avg

0.1%

43%

5%

1%

4%

4%

1%

0.5%

4%

3%

11

182

425

33

376

12

9

7

80

1135

Table 6: Numbers of ET (Embryo Transfer) Beef Pedigree calves born in Ireland in 2014.

Table 6 summary: • 1135 Embryo Transfer Pedigree beef calves were born in 2014 which represents 3% of the total pedigree calf crop.

• ET calves in the Belgian Blue breed account for 43% of their 2014 calf crop. ET calves make up no more than 5% of any other breed’s calf crops (Graph 8).

Countries of origin for Dams of 2014 born pedigree calves 50 40 30 20 10 0

AA

BB

CH

HE

LM

PT

SA

SH

SI

Avg.

% of 2014 calves 0.1%

43%

5%

1%

4%

4%

1%

0.5%

4%

3%

Graph 8: % of ET Calves in each breed’s 2014 pedigree calf crop

GJB Most popular Sire of Pedigree Angus calves in 2014.

Despagnou Most Popular AI Sire of Pedigree Aubrac calves in 2014.

‘ET calves in the Belgian Blue breed account for 43% of their 2014 calf crop.

ET calves make up no more than 5% of any other breed’s calf crop’ 57

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

58

Aneto Most popular AI Sire of Pedigree Blonde d’Aquitaine calves in 2014.

Kilowatt d’Ochain (S1217) - Most popular Sire of Pedigree Belgian Blue calves in 2014.

Lisnagre Elite’ (LGL) – Most popular Sire of Pedigree Charolais calves in 2014.

Gouldingpoll 1 Superduty Most popular Sire of Pedigree Hereford calves in 2014.

Ardlea Dan Most popular Sire of Pedigree Limousin calves in 2014.

LRY Most popular AI Sire of Pedigree Parthenaise calves in 2014.

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Variegois (S827) - Most populat sire of pedigree Saler calves in Ireland in 2014.

Curaheen Apostle (APZ) – the most popular sire of Pedigree Simmental calves in 2014.

Falcao Sire of ‘Kilcoursey Fred’ – Most popular Sire of Pedigree Piedmontese calves in 2014.

Speciality/Rare breeds Statistics 2014 Breeds

Origin

Bazadaise

Creaga Dice’ ‘CZB’, the most popular Sire of Pedigree Shorthorn calves in 2014.

Numbers of Speciality/Rare Pedigree registered calves born in 2014

Breeders

Calves

700

UK

3

1

600

Belted Galloway

UK

50

145

Dexter

Ireland

110

650

300

Highland

UK

25

85

200

Irish Maol

UK

60

101

500 400

100

Speckled Park

Canada

13

72

264

1077

Total

72

15

8

1

Bazadais

15

85

Longhorn

2

101

Romagnola

Italy

145

Speckled Park

Romagnola

650

Highland

8

Irish Maol

1

Belted Galloway

UK

Dexter

Longhorn

0 2014 calves

Graph 9: Numbers of speciality/rare pedigree calves born in 2014.

Table 7: Numbers of speciality/rare pedigree registered calves born in 2014 together with the number of breeders.

59

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

60

Ballylough Warrior (WRO) - Speckled Park AI Sire (Bova AI).

Whitepool McCoy (GA2042) - Belted Galloway AI Sire (Bova AI)

Unno Romagnola AI Sire.

Newbridge Darragh (NBD) – Irish Moiled AI Sire (Bova AI)

Oldstone Bambi (S685) – Dexter AI Sire (Dovea AI)

Arkle of Ousdale (AOD) – Highland AI Sire

Beef

Sire Breed

4,448

29,186

LM - Limousin

9,359

Dam Breed Totals 114,794

382

30

RB - Rotbunt

1

8

-

11

314

33

99

2,596

1,736

6

MY - MRI

Other

68

MO - Montbeliarde

1,918

FR - Holstein/Friesian 55

3,849

SI - Simmental

JE - Jersey

1,050

SH - Shorthorn

936

2,132

29,611

CH - Charolais

HE - Hereford

126

1,138

3,803

BB - Belgian Blue

SA - Saler

BB

4,952

1,302

9,275

CH

1,746

6

1

25

7

258

7,332

992

1,344

54,950

2,804

49,765 212,220

1,173

5

3

19

3

639

1,809

394

412

19,848

1,079

13,924 127,226

5,407

903

321 4,147 2,198

37,496

BA

602

BA - Blonde d'Aquitaine

AA - Angus

AA

Beef

4,331

95,453

17,829

2,413

14,579

LM

4,386

10

5

69

14

939

10,268

1,299

1,852

82,429 313,345

904

15

13

27

14

1,148

3,616

574

551

24,217 159,898

17,720

23,047

2,293

444

7,846

HE

383

1

3

2

2

54

514

75

3,550

3,745

230

6,275

583

149

681

SA

16,247

Dam Breed

SI

11,601

25,570

904

174,730

54 8

2,287 316 2,196 10,075

21 1,279

12

95

35,311

1,624

119

5,300

6

21,356

122

14,561

12,488

158

48

2,165 3,039

727

55,412

1,767

212

424

27

3,365

JE

863 666,410

21,018

577

770

31,418

2,499 115,987

35,661

3,601

779

FR

31,337 104,290 1,097,741

455

34

16

41

21

1,273

1,198

6,273

310

6,716

1,633

8,977

1,023

148

3,219 5,691

SH

Table 8: Total numbers of calves born in Ireland in 2014 - analysed by Breed of Sire & Dam

Dairy

Total calf births in 2014 Summary

21,599

484

201

34

3,706

143

5,499

774

110

145

2,924

2,337

1,313

1,165

82

2,682

MO

Dairy

187

9,273

34,001

4,829

1,280

6,598

20,904

30,401 2,131,048

9,067

163

84

606

1,982

2,937

64,173

15,099

12,502

7,762 711,766

523

402

203

3,417 395,908

1,516 157,699

14

219

69,086

10,183 2,180 357,922

964

210

3,290 269,098

Other

190

94

158

88

46

658

19

14

2,901

231

117 735

64

107

619 59

10

235

909

123 313

219

16

1,377

RB

115

6

399

MY

Sire Breed Totals

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

National Cattle Statistics

61

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Beef Sired calves from Beef & Dairy Herds Total numbers of calves sired by beef bulls - born in 2014 Breed of Beef Sire AA

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

Total

Nbr of Calves

269,098

10,183

69,086

357,922

157,699

395,908

12,502

15,099

64,173

1,351,670

% of Total

20%

1%

5%

26%

12%

29%

1%

1%

5%

Table 9: Total numbers of pedigree & commercial calves sired by the main Sire breeds in 2014 Table 9 summary: • 97% of all beef sired calves born in Ireland come from 6 breeds: Charolais, Limousin, Angus, Hereford, Belgian Blue & Simmental (Graph 10).

• Limousin, Charolais and Angus sires account for 75% of the beef sired calves born in 2014.

Proportion of calves sired by beef bulls – born in 2014 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

% of AA Total 20%

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

1%

5%

26%

12%

29%

1%

1%

5%

Graph 10: Proportion of calves sired by the main Beef Sire breeds in 2014 – out of both beef and dairy cows.

Blonde x Friesian, ‘Castlecoote Alex’ (CDK) sired cow with her Belgian blue ‘AJY’ sired calf in the herd of Jeremiah Twomey, Donoughmore, Co.Cork.

‘Limousin, Charolais & Angus account for 75% of the beef sired calves born in 2014’ 62

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Beef Sired calves from Beef Herds Total numbers of Beef Sired calves out of the beef herd - born in 2014 Breed of Beef Sire AA

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

Total

Nbr of Calves

83,255

8,938

40,629

342,306

34,870

332,574

9,824

11,267

49,918

913,581

% of Total

9%

1%

4%

38%

4%

36%

1%

1%

6%

Table 10: Total numbers of Beef Sired calves out of the beef herd in 2014.

Table 10 summary: • Charolais is the number one breed of sire in Irish suckler herds – siring 38% (342,306) of all beef calves born in 2014 (Graph 11).

• Limousin follows very closely with 332,574 calves sired by Limousin bulls in 2014.

Proportion of Beef sired calves out of beef cows – 2014 40

30

20

10

0 % of Total

AA

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

9%

1%

4%

38%

4%

36%

1%

1%

6%

Graph 11: Proportion of Beef sired calves out of beef cows in 2014.

Charolais AI Sire Fiston (FSZ)

Trend in Beef sired calves from the Beef herd 20132014 4000 2000 0 Calves

-2000

AA

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

-4000 -6000 -8000 -10000

Graph 12: Trend in Beef sired calves from the Beef herd (2013-2014)..

‘Charolais is the number 1 breed of beef sire in Irish beef herds siring 38% of all beef calves born in 2014’

63

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Beef Sired calves from Dairy Herds Total numbers of Beef Sired calves out of the dairy herd - born in 2014 Breed of Beef Sire AA

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

Total

Nbr of Calves

185,843

1,245

28,457

15,616

122,829

63,334

2,678

3,832

14,255

438,089

% of Total

42%

0.2%

7%

4%

28%

14%

0.6%

1%

3.0%

Table 11: Total numbers of Beef Sired calves out of the dairy herd in 2014.

Table 11 summary: • Angus is the number one breed of beef sire in Irish dairy herds – siring 42% (185,843) of all beef calves born in 2014 (Graph 12).

• Hereford is the next most popular beef breed used in dairy herds with 122,829 calves born in 2014 with a Hereford sire.

Proportion of Beef Sired Calves out of Dairy Cows 2014 40

30

20

10

0

% of AA Total 42%

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

0.2%

7%

4%

28%

14%

0.6%

1%

3%

Graph 13: Proportion of Beef sired calves out of dairy cows in 2014.

Angus AI Sire Dunlouise Jipsey Knight K359 (JYK)

Trend in Beef sired calves from the Dairy herd 20132014 40000 35000 30000

Calves

25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0

AA

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

Graph 14: Trend in Beef sired calves from the Dairy herd (2013-2014).

64

‘Angus is the number 1 breed of beef sire in Irish dairy herds siring 42% of all beef calves born in 2014’

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Total numbers of calves out of Beef Cows - born in 2014 Breed of Beef Dam AA

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

Total

Nbr of Calves

114,794

9,359

49,765

212,220

82,429

313,345

16,247

31,337

104,290

933,786

% of Total

12%

1%

5%

23%

9%

34%

2%

3%

11%

Table 12: Total numbers of pedigree & commercial beef calves born in 2014 by breed of Dam. Table 12 summary: • Limousin is the number 1 breed of beef cow in Ireland with 34% of all beef calvings in 2014 being from Limousin cows.

• Almost 90% of beef calves born in Ireland come from 5 breeds of Dam: Charolais, Limousin, Angus, Hereford & Simmental (Graph 12).

Proportion of calves out of beef cows – born in 2014 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

% of AA Total 12%

BA

BB

CH

HE

LM

SA

SH

SI

1%

5%

23%

9%

34%

2%

3%

11%

Graph 15: Proportion of calves born in 2014 by Breed of Dam.

Brendan Hanley, Keelogues, Edgeworthstown, Co.Longford with his limousin heifer ‘Keeltown Freda

‘Limousin is the number 1 breed of beef cow in Ireland with 34% of all beef calvings in 2014 being from Limousin cows’ 65

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

AI & Stockbull Usage in the National Herd – 2014 Calves from the Beef Herd - Sire type 2014

0.15%

0.24%

Dairy Stockbulls

Sire Type Dairy AI Sires Dairy Stockbulls

Number of Sires Number of Calves 439

2,272

Dairy AI Sires

% 0.24%

671

1,416

0.15%

Beef AI Sires

1,772

177,313

19%

Beef Stockbulls

38,808

554,761

60%

21%

19%

Unknown Sire Type

Beef AI Sires

60% Beef Stockbulls

Unknown Sire Type

-

Total Beef Cow Calvings

197,391

21%

933,786

Table 13: An analysis of the proportion of calves out of beef cows that were sired by AI Sires and Stockbulls in 2014. (Pie Chart 1).

Pie Chart 1: Proportion of calves out of beef cows that were sired by AI Sires and Stockbulls in 2014.

Table 13 summary: • Allowing for unknown sires – approximately 20-25% of beef calves were sired by Beef AI Sires.

• Approximately 60-70% of beef calves were sired by Beef Stockbulls.

Calves from the Dairy Herd - Sire type 2014 Sire Type

Number of Sires Number of Calves

%

Dairy AI Sires

3726

469,728

40%

Dairy Stockbulls

6796

128,913

11%

Beef AI Sires

1097

66,270

6%

Beef Stockbulls

9862

60% 122,134 Beef Stockbulls

11%

379,816

32%

32%

Unknown Sire Type Total Dairy Cow Calvings

-

Unknown Sire Type

40% Dairy AI Sires

11% Beef Stockbulls

6%

11%

Beef AI Sires

Dairy Stockbulls

1,166,861

Table 14: An analysis of the proportion of calves out of dairy cows that were Pie Chart 2: Proportion of calves out of dairy cows that were sired by AI Sires and sired by AI Sires and Stockbulls in 2014. (Pie Chart 2).

Stockbulls in 2014.

Table 14 summary: • Allowing for unknown sires – approximately 40-50% of dairy calves were sired by Dairy AI Sires.

• Approximately 5-10% were sired by Beef AI Sires.

• Approximately 10-20% were sired by Dairy Stockbulls and another 10-20% were sired by Beef Stockbulls.

‘20-25% of calves out of beef cows were sired by Beef AI Sires in 2014’ ‘40-50% of calves out of dairy cows were sired by Dairy AI Sires in 2014’ 66

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

2014 Inseminations - Dairy v Beef Sire Type

2014 Inseminations DIY v Technician

Number of Sires Number of Calves

Count

%

Count

%

DIY

265,241

28%

Dairy Inseminations

656,581

70%

Technician

681,573

72%

Beef Inseminations

290,233

30%

Total Inseminations

946,814

Insemination Type

Table 15: Number of Beef & Dairy inseminations recorded on the ICBF database in 2014

946,814

Table 16: Breakdown of the number of DIY v Technician inseminations recorded on the ICBF database in 2014.

(Note:A certain amount of inseminations are not recorded on the ICBF database (Non Handheld recorded & some DIY inseminations).

29%

30%

Foreign AI Sires

Beef Inseminations

70%

71%

Dairy Inseminations

Irish AI Sires

Pie Chart 3: Dairy & Beef Inseminations distribution - 2014

Pie Chart 4: Proportion of 2014 Dairy Inseminations that were to Irish bred v Foreign AI bulls.

2014 Dairy Inseminations - Irish v Foreign AI Bulls Sire Type

Count

%

Foreign AI Sires

187,812

29%

Irish AI Sires

468,825

71%

Table 17: Breakdown of 2014 Dairy Inseminations – Irish bred v Foreign AI Bulls.

53%

47%

Irish AI Sires

Foreign AI Sires

2014 Beef Inseminations – Irish v Foreign AI Bulls Count

%

Foreign AI Sires

136,941

47%

Irish AI Sires

153,239

53%

Pie Chart 5: Proportion of 2014 Beef Inseminations that were to Irish bred v Foreign AI bulls.

Table 18: Breakdown of 2014 Beef Inseminations – Irish bred v Foreign AI Bulls. (Pie Chart 5)

‘Approximately 70% of all inseminations in 2014 were to Dairy AI Sires & the remainder were to Beef AI Sires’ ‘71% of all Dairy inseminations in 2014 were to AI Sires that were born in Ireland’ 67

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

AI Straws in liquid nitrogen

2014 Inseminations by Breed of Bull

‘Nippur’ (NPP) – a French bred Charolais AI Sire who is located in France but who sired 3529 calves here in Ireland in 2014

Count

%

Holstein

538,366

57%

Angus

76,730

8%

Friesian

73,767

8%

Breed

Limousin

62,915

7%

Blue

46,050

Hereford

44,956

Charolais

Breed

2014 Inseminations by breed of cow Count

%

Holstein & Friesian

735,925

78%

5%

Limousin

47,649

5%

5%

Jersey

38,684

4%

35,995

4%

Charolais

28,438

3%

Jersey

30,688

3%

Angus

16,957

2%

Simmental

12,295

1%

Simmental

16,164

2%

Norwegian Red

5,002

1%

Hereford

12,911

1%

Shorthorn

3,660

0.39%

Norwegian Red

11,525

1%

Saler

3,521

0.37%

Blue

9,334

1%

Montbeliarde

3,243

0.34%

Montbeliarde

9,064

1%

Ayrshire

2,062

0.21%

Shorthorn

5,236

1%

Parthenaise

1,801

0.19%

Rotbunt

3,827

0.40%

MRI

1,763

0.18%

Saler

2,502

0.26%

Blonde

1,044

0.11%

MRI

1,362

0.14%

Aubrac

634

0.06%

Blonde

1,335

0.14%

Speckled Park

507

0.05%

Swedish Red

1,219

0.13%

Brown Swiss

379

0.04%

Parthenaise

858

0.09%

Swedish Red

363

0.03%

Ayrshire

853

0.09%

Normande

191

0.02%

Aubrac

688

0.07%

Piedmontese

182

0.01%

Brown Swiss

573

0.06%

Galloway

112

0.01%

Normande

297

0.03%

Kerry

107

0.01%

Kerry

182

0.02%

Wagyu

102

0.01%

Piedmontese

169

0.02%

Table 19: 2014 Inseminations by breed of bull

Table 20: 2014 Inseminations by breed of dam

Note: The insemination figures quoted should not be taken as absolute totals. A certain number of inseminations are not recorded on the ICBF database (Non Handheld recorded & some DIY inseminations).

‘53% of all Beef inseminations in 2014 were to AI Sires that were born in Ireland’ 68

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Most Popular Beef AI Sires in Suckler Herds - 2014 Angus Rank ID

Name

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

KYA GJB JGY MLJ FPI ZFL SYT

CORNAMUCKLA LORD HARDY K222 GOULDING JUMBO KING K436 ET JESANA GALAXY MOGEELY JOE H979 FRIARSTOWN IDEAL PETE K202 ET LISDUFF DANDY K895 SANDYLANE TADGH

8

TQL TEMPLEQUAIN LORD JAKE K798

9 RGZ TUBRIDMORE GIZMO E.T. (ET) 10 ZLT BIRCHES LITTLEMAN L923

Belgian Blue Calves Owner Rank ID 2655 2475 1468 864 788 758 674

NCBC NCBC NCBC Dovea NCBC Dovea Bova

616

Dovea

576 562

NCBC Dovea

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Name

STQ BBQ AJY DBZ AZL RWS DEP

SULTAN 0580 BALLYFIN BORAT (ET) ADAJIO DE BRAY MANITOU DE BELLE EAU ROSS ALO (ET) ROSEMOUNT CASH ET DESPOTE DE L'EAU D'EPPE MASERATI VAN DE 8 VDV VLOEIKENSHOEVE 9 SFL DU STORDEUR FLANEUR 10 BYU BLAK 5075 BATY EPRAVE

Hereford Rank ID

Name

1 2

GZS GOULDINGPOLL 1 SUPERDUTY ET KSG KILSUNNY GOLIATH DOREPOLL 1 93N 3 DPS TRANSATLANTIC 4 GSQ GLASLOUGH ESQUIRE 5 FRZ SOLPOLL 1 FERRARI 6 SPL SOLPOLL 1 HANDSOME HYC 7 GCT GOULDINGPOLL 1 CAPTAIN 8 CRP CARHUEFREE PRINCE 9 LTX LISRACE LIBERATOR IV 10 GPZ GROUSEHALLPOLL 1 PREMIER (ET)

Charolais Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

Calves Owner

2785 1542 1467 940 878 727 670

NCBC Dovea NCBC NCBC NCBC NCBC NCBC

1 LGL LISNAGRE ELITE (ET) 2 NPP NIPPUR 3 FSZ FISTON 4 MZT MOZART 5 RHI ROUNDHILL DOC 1068 (ET) 6 FWO FLEETWOOD 7 LZF CAVELANDS FENIAN

9231 3529 2718 1987 1551 1496 1465

NCBC NCBC NCBC NCBC Dovea NCBC NCBC

637

Dovea

8

1290

Dovea

553 371

Bova NCBC

9 MVO MANDELA VERON (ET) 10 LSP LISCALLY ETI (ET)

1288 1249

NCBC Dovea

CXY CLOVERFIELD EXCELENT

Limousin Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

Simmental Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

Calves Owner

634 428

NCBC Dovea

1 HCA HAUTECLAIR 2 ADX ARDLEA DAN

9027 6714

NCBC NCBC

1 2

APZ CURAHEEN APOSTLE ET SEV SEAVIEW TOMMY

3719 888

NCBC Dovea

416

NCBC

3 RHF ROUNDHILL DARA 1069

4460

Dovea

3

ZBF CURAHEEN BOSSMAN

838

NCBC

4232 3278 3228 3213 1842 1535 1448

NCBC 4 Dovea 5 Dovea 6 NCBC 7 NCBC 8 NCBC 9 Dovea 10

DRU CQA TBE QCD KEZ ISL IS4

692 490 436 330 326 273 260

Dovea Eurogene Bova Dovea NCBC Dovea NCBC

333 Dovea 4 332 ABS 5 174 NCBC 6 156 Dovea 7 122 NCBC 8 107 Eurogene 9 104 NCBC 10

OZS MBP CWI AHZ TVR GWO KJB

OZEUS MILBROOK DARTANGAN ET CASTLEVIEW CASINO (ET) ACHILE ELITE FOREVER BRILL ET CASTLEVIEW GRINGO ET BROOKLANDS F0959

DERROUGH SAMUAL CURAHEEN VIO (ET) DELFUR T-BONE CLOONDROON CALLING KEELDRUM CAPONE 11 ISLAVALE CRACKER 11 SEEPA TEE JAY

Most Popular Beef AI Sires in Dairy Herds - 2014 Angus Rank ID 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

KYA JGY GJB ZLT RGZ WAO KTG MKP JYK TLZ

Name CORNAMUCKLA LORD HARDY K222 JESANA GALAXY GOULDING JUMBO KING K436 ET BIRCHES LITTLEMAN L923 TUBRIDMORE GIZMO E.T. (ET) WOODVALE TOTAL G616 KEELTIES GALLIANO PORTAUNS MIKE K417 DUNLOUISE JIPSEY KNIGHT K359 TONROE LORD IAN G263

Belgian Blue Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

6431 NCBC 1 DBZ MANITOU DE BELLE EAU 4481 NCBC 2 BBQ BALLYFIN BORAT (ET) 1495 NCBC 3 VAP VALENTIN 2235 PAPILLON 1343 Dovea 4 CFU CONCERT DU BLOFAGNU 1248 NCBC 5 SZS SATYRE DE SOMME 1044 Eurog/LIC 6 FTK MESSAGER DE FOOZ 735 Dovea 7 VSM VENEUR DE SOMME 697 Dovea 8 STQ SULTAN 0580 686 Eurog/LIC 9 BZP BALLYFIN DESPERADO ET 571 Dovea 10 ATG UNITAIRE D ARGENTON

Hereford Rank ID 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Name

FRZ SOLPOLL 1 FERRARI GOULDINGPOLL 1 GZS SUPERDUTY ET SPL SOLPOLL 1 HANDSOME HYC DOREPOLL 1 93N DPS TRANSATLANTIC KSG KILSUNNY GOLIATH GSQ GLASLOUGH ESQUIRE LTX LISRACE LIBERATOR IV GPZ GROUSEHALLPOLL 1 PREMIER (ET) CRP CARHUEFREE PRINCE MRU MEILTRON LEISURE

Charolais Calves Owner Rank ID 4307 NCBC 1 NPP 2289 Dovea 2 OSI 1374 NCBC 3 LGL 1323 NCBC 4 MZT 715 Eurog/LIC 5 RHI 690 NCBC 6 HWN 686 NCBC 7 KFC 558 NCBC 8 PTE 385 Dovea 9 TUT 310 NCBC 10 FWO

Limousin Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

Name

Calves Owner

NIPPUR 287 OLDGRANGE SINDURAIN 223 LISNAGRE ELITE (ET) 89 MOZART 89 ROUNDHILL DOC 1068 (ET) 74 HOLLOWTREE NICKOLAS 56 KNOCKANE FLARE 53 PIRATE 43 THRUNTON NOSTRADAMUS 34 FLEETWOOD 30

NCBC Dovea NCBC NCBC Dovea NCBC Dovea NCBC Eurog/LIC NCBC

Simmental Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

Calves Owner

2495

ABS

1 HCA HAUTECLAIR

1593

NCBC

1

APZ CURAHEEN APOSTLE ET

412

NCBC

1582

NCBC

2 RHF ROUNDHILL DARA 1069

1192

Dovea

2

DRU DERROUGH SAMUAL

149

Dovea

1539

NCBC

3 AHZ ACHILE

488

NCBC

3

SEV SEAVIEW TOMMY

116

Dovea

1225

NCBC

4 ADX ARDLEA DAN

328

NCBC

4

HKG HILLCREST KING

69

NCBC

63 52 44 40 40 40

Dovea Dovea NCBC NCBC Bova NCBC

1131 Dovea 5 OZS OZEUS 1016 Dovea 6 CWI CASTLEVIEW CASINO (ET) 811 Eurog/LIC 7 ODZ ODERIM 624 NCBC 8 MBP MILBROOK DARTANGAN ET 508 NCBC 9 KJB BROOKLANDS F0959 238 NCBC 10 ROX ROCKY

290 NCBC 5 210 Dovea 6 172 Eurog/LIC 7 107 Dovea 8 104 Dovea 9 93 NCBC 10

S1025 GS WILHELM ROE MONESS ROSCOE ZBF CURAHEEN BOSSMAN AS12 PLANET TBE DELFUR T-BONE IS4 SEEPA TEE JAY

Table 21: The most popular Beef AI Sires in Suckler & Dairy Herds in 2014

69

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

70

KYA Most popular AI Sire of Angus calves in Beef & Dairy Herds in 2014.

STQ Most popular AI Sire of Belgian Blue calves in Suckler Herds 2014.

LGL Most popular AI Sire of Charolais calves in Suckler Herds in 2014.

FRZ Most popular AI Sire of Hereford calves in Dairy Herds in 2014.

HCA Most popular AI Sire of Limousin calves in Suckler & Dairy Herds in 2014.

APZ Most popular AI Sire of Simmental calves in Suckler & Dairy Herds in 2014.

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Dairy Breeds Statistics 2014 Numbers of Pedigree Calves Origin of Sires

Holstein

Friesian

Jersey

Montbeliarde

Pedigree Calf Totals by Sire Origin

% of Totals

Australia

37

37

0.07%

Belgium

2

2

0.00%

Czech. Rep

10

10

0.02%

Canada

1,789

25

1,814

4%

Denmark

629

175

804

2%

Finland

10

10

0.02%

France

962

1364

3%

1,179

2%

25,564

53%

1,578

3%

3,933

8%

608

1%

402

Germany

1,099

80

Ireland

24,397

1,086

Italy

1,578

Netherlands

3,370

New Zealand

388

Sweden

157

157

0.30%

3

3

0.01%

34

2,434

5%

34

8,637

18%

Switzerland

44

37

563 220

UK

1,891

509

USA

8,603

Pedigree Calf Totals by Breed

44,925

2,239

532

439

% of main Pedigree Dairy Breeds

93%

5%

1%

1%

48,135

(*Pedigree: Any calf whose breed fraction is 87.5% of the same breed and has a name. Friesians are at least 87.5% Friesian and Holsteins are all remaining HO/FR calves with a name.)

Table 22: Numbers of Dairy Pedigree calves born in Ireland in 2014 – analysed by breed & by country of Origin of Sire.

71

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Calves

Proportion of 2014 Pedigree Dairy calves born by Breed 50000 45000 40000 35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 % of Total

Countries of origin for sires of 2014 born pedigree dairy calves 60 50 40 30 20 10

HO

FR

JE

MO

44,925

2,239

532

439

Graph 16: Proportion of Pedigree dairy calves born in each breed in 2014.

0 Series 1

Ireland 53%

USA Netherlands

UK

Canada

18%

5%

4%

8%

11 Other Countries 12%

Graph 17: Distribution of Countries of origin for the Sires of the 2014 born pedigree dairy calves.

Dairy Sired calves from the Dairy Herd Total numbers of Dairy Sired calves out of the dairy herd - born in 2014 Breed of Dairy Sire HF

JE

MO

MY

RB

Nbr of Calves

704,663

20,782

6,244

1,220

4,707

% of Total

93%

3%

1%

0.16%

0.62%

Table 23: Total numbers of dairy sired calves out of the dairy herd.

Proportion of Dairy Sired Calves out of Dairy Cows – 2014 100 80 60 40 20 0 % of Total

HF

JE

MO

MY

RB

93%

3%

1%

0.16%

0.62%

Graph 18: Proportion of Dairy sired calves out of dairy cows in 2014.

Holstein AI Sire O-Bee Manfred Justice (OJI)

‘Holstein is the number 1 breed of dairy sire in Irish dairy herds – siring 93% of all dairy calves born in 2014’ 72

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16

Most Popular Dairy AI Sires in Dairy Herds - 2014 Holstein Rank ID 1

Name

Friesian Calves Owner Rank ID

LHZ (IG) LAURAGH EVERT

25175

NCBC

1

2 PBM (IG) BALLINABORTA PRIMO

18073

NCBC

16278

NCBC

4 HMY HIGHMOUNT KENNY

15984

5

ABO (IG) CASTLEBLAGH ODIE

11078

6

JKF (IG) DOONMANAGH FLT JACKO

7

DGC DUNGOURNEY CREMIN

Name

Name

Dovea

1

2 RVJ RAHEENARRAN BCG SOCHAR

4505

Dovea

2 OKM OKURA LIKA MURMUR S3J

1812

3 FAE (IG) FIRODA GRIETMAN

2603

NCBC

3

PKA PUKEROA TGM MANZELLO

1548

NCBC

NCBC

4 RHS RAHEENARRAN MEB SOCHAR

2551

NCBC

4

OKT OKURA LT INTEGRITY

851

Eurog/LIC

NCBC

5 ANY DOVEA ANDY

1543

Dovea

5 WZR WAIWIRA WARLORD

809

Eurog/LIC

8062

NCBC

6 LPW (IG) COOLEENBEE PIA WILL

1507

NCBC

6

PSQ PRIESTS SOLARIS-ET

724

Eurog/LIC

7517

Dovea

7 CZF CATLANE SPITFIRE

1505

NCBC

7

ZCD CRESCENT MAN DOMINIC S3J

622

NCBC

8 WDS WHINLEA DAN SUPERSONIC-ET 6974 Eurog/LIC 8 KJY KIRKBY JAYSON

1063

Dovea

8

LKQ LYNBROOK TGM TANGO S3J

493

Eurog/LIC

9

952

ABS

9 YMD MOODYS EXECUTIVE

459

Eurog/LIC

948

Dovea 10 TAJ TE ARANGA JP JUBILANT S3J

383

Eurog/LIC

KSK (IG) BALLYBRIDE SHERLOCK

BGJ BAGWORTH PF GRANDEUR S1F 6325 Eurog/LIC 9

10 ZPB BALLYOGAHA PHILIP

5839

Dovea

DQI DEANGATE QUENTIN

10 TMI TITTENSER MEINSE

Montbeliarde Rank ID 1

Name

HJT HILLSTAR LOT JESTER S3J

Calves Owner

7413

3

PZI PIET ADEMA 186

Jersey Calves Owner Rank ID

Norwegian Red Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

1885 Eurog/LIC NCBC

MRI Calves Owner Rank ID

Name

DUJ DOVEA JODUS

Calves Owner

ZKB BRINK

346

Dovea

1 BSJ BOSNES

1632

NCBC

1

112

Dovea

2 S811 URBANISTE

197

Dovea

2 EKE EIK

1473

Dovea

2 S911 THORGAL

93

Dovea

3

RLP RAPALLO

142

Dovea

3 VSK VELSVIK

482

NCBC

3 S1485 BIOM

53

Dovea

4

RZN REDON

133

Dovea

4 ZBR BRAUT

449

Dovea

4

52

Dovea

5

VAY VANTEY

86

Dovea

5 TUY TEERGAY ULSAKER LILY

175

NCBC

5 S824 MALBORIX

39

Dovea

6

VFL VALFIN JB 1569

Eurog/LIC 6 S1539 DE VINKENHOF BRUCE

SJD SUNNYSIDE DON

80

NCBC

6 TVK TINEGERAGH VSK 777

162

21

NCBC

7 S1475 BRANLY

77

Dovea

7 EGE EGGTROEN

137

Dovea

7 S1549 PRISMA

20

NCBC

8 S1313 BOURGUEIL

70

Dovea

8 RRV RAVN

108

NCBC

8 S1537 MELDON

18

NCBC

9

IIA INDIA

67

NCBC

9

106

NCBC

9 S1538 DE VINKENHOF ANNO

17

NCBC

10 AOA ADAMO JB

59

NCBC

10 TGK TINEGERAGH LEV 545

81

NCBC

10 S1198 DOMINIC

16

NCBC

KZI KNOCKROUR HGZ VIKING

Table 24: The most popular Dairy AI Sires in Dairy herds in 2014.

‘Lauragh CWJ Heather’ – The dam of ‘LHZ’ – the most popular Holstein AI Sire in Ireland in 2014.

‘PZI’ – The most popular Friesian AI Sire in Ireland in 2014.

‘HJT’ – The most popular Jersey AI Sire in Ireland in 2014.

‘ZKB’ – The most popular Montbeliarde AI Sire in Ireland in 2014.

‘BSJ’ – The most popular Norwegian Red AI Sire in Ireland in 2014.

‘DUJ’ – The most popular MRI AI Sire in Ireland in 2014.

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ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 ICBF - Contacts Area ICBF Herdplus Gene Ireland Weight Recording Linear Scoring

Tel 023-8820222 1850-600-900 or 023-8820452 1850-600-900 or 023-8820452 1850-600-900 or 023-8820452 045-521573

Fax 023-8820229 023-8820229 023-8820229 023-8820229 045-530009

Email query@icbf.com query@icbf.com query@icbf.com query@icbf.com query@icbf.com

Web www.icbf.com www.icbf.com www.icbf.com www.icbf.com www.icbf.com

ICBF Weight Recorders Firstname Robert Jonathan Tom Padraig Niall James SKDP Padraig Padhraic Declan Wesley William Declan James Justin Alan Ciaran Paddy John Lesley Liam

Surname Walsh Kenneally O'Reilly Conway Stoddart Coffey Ryan Tynan Butler Breaden Scott Neary Strain Walsh Scanlan Kelleher Doyle Gallagher Sandes Wiley

Weight Recording Costs Individual Farmer Callout Fee (incl. the weighing of up to 15 cattle)

16 - 30 animals 31-100 animals 101-200 animals 201+ animals

74

€60 €2.50/head €1.25/head €1.00/head €0.40/head

Address Ballyphilibeen, Mourneabbey, Mallow, c/o Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Cunareen, Aughnacliffe, Baltard, Doonbeg, Kilrush, Ballycrissane, Portumna, Magheraboy, Kilmovee, Ballaghaderreen, Caherciveen, Co. Kerry Lisheendarby, Donohill Ballycuddihy, Kilmanagh, Dunmoon, Tallow Drumgurra, Corduff, Carrickmacross Ballykillowen, Donegal P.O. Whiterath, Castlebellingham, Dundalk Drumawooey, Burnfort Ard Na Ri Lodge, Castletown, Tara, Tullamore, Ballybunion Maughanaclea, Kealkil, Bantry Kyle, Bunclody Cloggarnagh West, Islandeady, Castlebar Ballyhasty, Cloughjordan Coolready, Bodyke, Co. Clare

Weight Recording Costs Individual Farmer Callout Fee (incl. the weighing of up to 15 cattle)

16 - 30 animals 31-100 animals 101-200 animals 201+ animals

€60 €2.50/head €1.25/head €1.00/head €0.40/head

County Cork Cork Longford Clare Galway Mayo Kerry Tipperary Kilkenny Waterford Monaghan Doneagal Louth Donegal Meath Kerry Cork Wexford Mayo Tipperary Limerick

Mobile 086 886 1018 087 858 6805 087 238 0233 087 793 6192 086 264 3364 086 153 2786 087 284 9165 087 971 0071 087 279 7833 086 308 1141 087 995 0725 087 092 0321 086 339 2910 087 299 7796 086 293 4547 086 304 0642 086 873 3913 087 233 4621 086 375 3211 087 638 1199 087 223 3674

Weight Recording Ready Reckoner Numbers

Discussion Group Rate

Single Rate

10 Animals 20 Animals 30 Animals 40 Animals 50 Animals 75 Animals 100 Animals

€60 €66.25 €78.75 €91.25 €103.75 €128.75 €153.75

€60 €72.50 €97.50 €110 €122.50 €153.75 €185

ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16 Pedigree Beef Breed Society Contacts Breed Tel Aberdeen Angus 071-9632099 Irish Angus 071-9620253 Aubrac 023-8833443 Bazadaise 0044-1666860470 Belgian Blue 0504-43870 Belted Galloway 0044 7891245870 Blonde d’Aquitaine 086-0743931 Charolais 01-4198050 Dexter 086-3109019 Hereford 044-9348855 Highland 0044 1786446866 Irish Maol 0044 7842185008 Limousin 025-85036 Longhorn 0044 8450171027 Luing 0044 1250873882 Parthenaise 087-2525100 Piedmontese 087-6845675 Romagnola 087-1700778 Saler 0505-42245 Shorthorn 0504-26806 Simmental 057-9324577 Speckled Park 087-7388501

Fax 078-32140 071-9620406 023-8834740

Email irishaberdeenangus@eircom.net angus@iol.ie info@aubrac.ie enquiry@bazadaise.co.uk belgianblue@eircom.net 0044 1665579326 info@beltedgalloways.co.uk 049-4367758 powerfulgenetics@eircom.net 01-4080640 charola@iol.ie secretary@dextercattle.ie 044-9348949 irishhereford@gmail.com 0044 1786446022 info@highlandcattlesociety.com secretary@irishmoiledcattlesociety.com 025-85060 admin@irishlimousin.com 0044 8450171027 secretary@longhorncattlesociety.com secretary@luingcattlesociety.co.uk 091-635955 laurie@iol.ie piemcattleadmin@gmail.com rigneyalan@hotmail.com 0505-42245 irishsalers@eircom.net shorthornsoc@eircom.net 057-9324596 simmental@eircom.net irishspecklepark@yahoo.ie

Web www.irishaberdeenangus.com www.irishangus.ie www.aubrac.ie www.bazadaise.org.uk www.ibbcs.com www.beltedgalloways.co.uk www.irishblonde.com www.charolais.ie www.dextercattle.ie www.irishhereford.com www.highlandcattlesociety.com www.irishmoiledcattlesociety.com www.irishlimousin.com www.longhorncattlesociety.com www.luingcattlesociety.co.uk www.parthenaise.ie www.irishpiemontesesociety.com www.irishsalers.com www.irishshorthorns.com www.irishsimmental.com www.irishspecklepark.com

AI Company - Contacts AI Company Bova AI Celtic Sires Dovea Genetics Eurogene NCBC - Progressive Genetics NCBC - Munster AI Powerful Genetics World Wide Sires Ireland Sligo AI Dunmasc Genetics Elite Pedigree Genetics

Tel 061 - 351233 086-8810719 0504 - 21755 052 - 7442940 1850 - 20-20-50 022 - 43228 086-0743931 087-9519850 071-9118892 086-3607641 0044-7825950275

Email info@bova-ai.com info@celticsires.com info@dovea-genetics.ie info@eurogeneaiservices.com via website info@munsterai.ie powerfulgenetics@eircom.net info@wwsireland.com info@sligoai.com www.dunmascgenetics.ie www.elitepedigreegenetics.com

Web www.bova-ai.com www.celticsires.com www.dovea.ie www.eurogeneaiservices.com www.progressivegenetics.ie www.munsterai.ie www.powerfulgenetics.com www.wwsires.com www.sligoai.com www.dunmascgenetics.ie www.elitepedigreegenetics.com

Industry - Contacts Organisation ACA - Agricultural Consultants AssociaĂ­tion Agfood - Calf Registration Agri Aware AHI - Animal Health Ireland Animal Events Helpline BVD Helpline ICSA ICMSA IFA IGA - Irish Grassland Association Macra na Feirme Teagasc Headquarters

Tel 051-645705 1890-252-118 01-4601103 071-9671928 1850-625-626 076-1064590 057-8662120 061-314532 01-4500266 087-9626483 01-4268900 059-9170200

Fax Email 051-640932 acaservices@som.ie agfood@agriculture.gov.ie info@agriaware.ie admin@animalhealthireland.ie animalevents@icbf.com admin@animalhealthireland.ie 057-8662121 info@icsaireland.com icmsaofficer@eircom.net 01-4551043 postmaster@ifa.ie via website via website 059-9182097 info@teagasc.ie

Web www.aca.ie www.agfood.ie www.agriaware.ie www.animalhealthireland.ie www.animalhealthireland.ie www.icsaireland.ie www.icmsa.ie www.ifa.ie www.irishgrassland.com www.macra.ie www.teagasc.ie

Disclaimer: While the utmost care has been taken by ICBF to ensure all information is correct at time of print.

ICBF are not responsible for any errors or omissions which may have occurred.

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