Irish AI companies invest hundreds of thousands of euro every year purchasing AI bulls. Shane Murphy spoke to some Irish AI companies about the up and coming bulls for the 2020 breeding season and what type of animals they suit.

New technologies are emerging all the time that make AI an option on more and more suckler farms. Pat Donnellan outlines the top 25 AI terminal bulls on the active bull list, as well as the top 25 AI replacement bulls on the active bull list. This list has the latest calving difficulty, calving records and price and is a useful table to use ahead of this year’s breeding season. These tables should be used as a tool when selecting this year’s sires.

Suckler farmers shouldn’t lose the skill of selecting good cattle and should always match sires to cows that will complement the positive and negative points of a cow.

While the percentage of suckler cows mated with AI each year is small, AI offers a massive opportunity to accelerate this genetic gain

To put breeding in a nutshell, it’s trying to achieve a generation that is better than the parents, both physically and genetically. While the percentage of suckler cows mated with AI each year is small, AI offers a massive opportunity to accelerate this genetic gain. Its success depends on a number of factors, heat detection being one of them. For herds starting to AI on 1 May for February 2021 calving, tail painting should be taking place this week.

This will help identify cows in heat and also help you pick out cows that haven’t yet come into heat. Accurate heat detection is equally as important and it’s hard to beat a vasectomised bull for this job. They are currently costing €600-€800, but are well worth the investment.

Having cows at the right condition is also very important for quick resumption of cycling, as is having cows on a rising plane of nutrition and having ample supplies of spring grass is central to this.

Feeding cows 1-2kg meal where cow numbers are small can be a big help in getting cows in for AI, and can help with condition score and preventing tetany.