The top bull in the spring 2023 active bull list is Stamullen Lunasa, bred by well-known farmer and lifelong cow breeder Brendan Meade from Stamullen, on the Dublin-Meath border.
With an EBI of €387 in the January evaluation, the bull tops the list of active sires. The number one bull from this time last year was Tisaxon Trooper but he has dropped back down the list, with a current EBI of €362.
With a number of bulls hot on the heels of Lunasa, it is apparent that progress is being made in the breeding programme in terms of rising EBI. There was significant change in the EBI over the last year, with a new carbon sub-index incorporated and changes being made to the beef sub-index too.
The active bull list is a good place to see and compare bulls but it’s not about just picking the top bull or top couple of bulls on the list. Essentially, all of the bulls on the list are top bulls and farmers should be confident about using any of the bulls within their team, if they can make a positive contribution or complement the genetics of some or all of the cows in the herd.
The criteria for making the list is as follows.
Bulls must have an EBI reliability greater than or equal to 35%. They must have a calving difficulty reliability greater than or equal to 70%, with 23% of that based on heifer calvings and 77% based on cow calvings. They must have at least 50 Irish calving records. Some of the highest-EBI bulls for sale in the AI catalogues are not on this list. Some of those bulls have EBIs of up to and over €400 but the thing to remember is that they don’t have a calving proof because they were, in the main, only born themselves last spring. These young genomic bulls don’t have field fertility data either so they should be used in small numbers and as part of a larger team.
Another thing to note is that the vast majority of the bulls are genomically selected, which is another reason to use a large team. Also, one sire, Kilfeacle Pivotal, is the sire of 23 bulls on the list and he is not yet proven for fertility so don’t use too many Pivotal sons in the bull team.
The top bull in the spring 2023 active bull list is Stamullen Lunasa, bred by well-known farmer and lifelong cow breeder Brendan Meade from Stamullen, on the Dublin-Meath border.
With an EBI of €387 in the January evaluation, the bull tops the list of active sires. The number one bull from this time last year was Tisaxon Trooper but he has dropped back down the list, with a current EBI of €362.
With a number of bulls hot on the heels of Lunasa, it is apparent that progress is being made in the breeding programme in terms of rising EBI. There was significant change in the EBI over the last year, with a new carbon sub-index incorporated and changes being made to the beef sub-index too.
The active bull list is a good place to see and compare bulls but it’s not about just picking the top bull or top couple of bulls on the list. Essentially, all of the bulls on the list are top bulls and farmers should be confident about using any of the bulls within their team, if they can make a positive contribution or complement the genetics of some or all of the cows in the herd.
The criteria for making the list is as follows.
Bulls must have an EBI reliability greater than or equal to 35%. They must have a calving difficulty reliability greater than or equal to 70%, with 23% of that based on heifer calvings and 77% based on cow calvings. They must have at least 50 Irish calving records. Some of the highest-EBI bulls for sale in the AI catalogues are not on this list. Some of those bulls have EBIs of up to and over €400 but the thing to remember is that they don’t have a calving proof because they were, in the main, only born themselves last spring. These young genomic bulls don’t have field fertility data either so they should be used in small numbers and as part of a larger team.
Another thing to note is that the vast majority of the bulls are genomically selected, which is another reason to use a large team. Also, one sire, Kilfeacle Pivotal, is the sire of 23 bulls on the list and he is not yet proven for fertility so don’t use too many Pivotal sons in the bull team.
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