The active beef bull lists show the highest-ranked beef AI sires on the replacement, terminal and dairy beef indices that have semen widely available, based on the March 2023 genetic evaluations computed by ICBF.

The criteria for making the lists are as follows:

  • Bull is genotyped.
  • Reliability percentage for their main index is at least 50%.
  • Reliability of calving difficulty of at least 50% (based on 17% heifer reliability percentage and 83% cow reliability percentage).
  • Bull must also have calves in his calving survey evaluation.
  • Terminal index: this index estimates how profitable a bull’s progeny will be from birth to slaughter.
  • Replacement index: this index estimates how suitable daughters of a bull will be for being good low maintenance profitable suckler cows.
  • Dairy beef index: this index is a tool to produce quality beef cattle from the dairy herd with short gestation and calving ease that will also grow and finish well.

    • Gene Ireland

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    A ‘yes’ in this column indicates that the bull was progeny tested through the Gene Ireland maternal progeny test programme. This is a programme where ICBF contacts beef farmers and coordinates the distribution of the semen and collection of data on those bulls’ daughters. This programme results in bulls receiving extremely accurate evaluations without excessive amounts of semen having to be dispatched, while they are still genetically unproven.

    Understand the terminology

  • Bull details: rank, AI code, name, breed, Gene Ireland.
  • Replacement or terminal index: this is the overall single figure profit index that each bull has. A bull with a replacement index of €200 is expected to sire daughters that are €200 more profitable than the average Irish suckler cow.

    • Likewise, for the terminal index, it is an indication of how profitable a bull’s progeny will be when slaughtered.

  • Reliability percentage: this figure is an indication as to how confident ICBF can be about the genetic evaluations for a particular bull. Progeny of a bull having data recorded on them (calving survey, weights, etc) alongside lots of other animals, across large numbers of herds is what increases a bull’s reliability percentage figure.

    • The reliability percentage figures for AI sires are generally higher than those of stock bulls due to the large number of calves across many herds that they would sire.

  • Stars across and within: this shows the percentile ranking of the bull’s index when compared across other breeds and also within their own breed (five stars: top 20%, one star: bottom 20%).
  • Semen details: availability, price and supplier details of each bull are included.

    • €uro-Stars

    The actual €uro-Stars just make the euro index values visually easy to understand. The €uro-Stars show where the animal’s genetic index ranks (top 20%, bottom 20%, etc).

    More €uro-Star details on these and all of the other available AI bulls can be found at www.icbf.com