Last week, we looked at how the autumn sales played out for each breed and how they changed year on year. This week, we take an in-depth look at the top-performing bulls at these sales. Which bulls sired the most bulls, which produced the most offspring and which are the top grossing?

This is vital information for breeders who may be choosing their AI bull team for the coming year. While many will have already started insemination, others are only beginning to get going.

This will, in many cases, help reinforce confidence that the bull you are choosing for the coming year is capable of producing the goods.

Listed in Table 1 are all AI bulls which sired an animal at a society sale to the average price at that sale or above. This allows only the better bulls and heifers prices by that sire to be included.

Breeders need to remember that the bull is only half the picture and that the cow makes up the other half. No matter how good the bull used is, it cannot make up for a very poor-standard female.

The table also only displays bulls available in AI. This does not necessarily mean these are the top-performing bulls in each breed.

Many pedigree herds in Ireland use stock bulls with great success, which may in some cases outperform the best available in AI. Stock bull use is particularly more common in the traditional breeds, making it a bit harder to see which bulls are the stand-outs.

Top performers

In Table 2, we outline the five bulls which produced progeny to sell for the highest average. Only bulls which sired two or more animals are included.

This chart is led by Charolais bull Pirate (PTE). A firm favourite with breeders since he was born in 1999, he has sired more than 33,000 calves. A high replacement index with calving ease combined meant there was a surge in interest in his progeny since the Beef Data Genomics Programme (BDGP) launched. His average lies at €6,683, up significantly from €5,300 in autumn 2016 when he led the highest number of progeny chart with seven. A further three of the top five average positions are held by Simmental bulls, a trend that is reflected in other performance tables also.

The breed achieved one of their best sales in a number of years in 2017, with three animals making over €10,000 at their premier.

Last year, the Limousin breed took poll position on highest average, with Gerrygullinane Glen siring three to average €7,300.

Table 3 shows bulls which sired the highest number of progeny across breeds in the autumn. Along with the Simmental breed, we see the Limousin breed making a big impression on the list.

The Limousin breed had its biggest entry ever for its premier sale in October. Given that the breed uses a majority of AI, progeny numbers of the better bulls available increased.

The final two tables are new for the 2017 sales and display the highest grossing bulls for autumn sales 2017 across breed and the top from each breed.

Again, the Simmental breed takes the two top positions. The tables are led by Kilbride Farm Delboy, who made €38,100 from his six progeny sold for the average price of €6,350.

Ironically, the bull which takes up second place across breeds, Kilbride Farm Dragoon, is very closely related, with three generations of the same sires and from the same family line.

Both bulls were bred by the Robson family in Northern Ireland, with Delboy purchased by AI services Northern Ireland and Dragoon purchased by Garrett Behan before being jumped with Dunmasc genetics.

One other bull to note from this table is Ampertaine Gigolo. Despite only siring five progeny, due to his high average, he overtook two bulls which sired six animals.

What do we notice?

One thing that should be pointed out when looking through the tables is, with the odd exception, there are very few stand-out bulls.

When there is a high number of AI bulls only siring one animal, it shows a lack of a dominant consistent bull. For example, in the Charolais breed, only two of the 29 bulls listed sired more than two calves. One of these is Pirate, which has been the dominant figure for a number of years, but the table shows no stand-out bull as a replacement for him.

Where only one bull stands out for a number of years, a breed runs the risk of tightening the gene pool. In the Limousin breed, we see a number of standout bulls, but, similarly, they are closely bred, going back to two dominant bulls.

The top four bulls in the breed by average price and progeny number are Kaprico Eravelle, Ampertaine Foreman, Ampertaine Gigolo and Ampertaine Elgin. Eravelle is a son of Wilodge Tonka, while Foreman is a grandson. Elgin is a son of Glenrock Ventura, while Gigolo is a grandson.