Kilfeackle Pivotal tops the list for 2020

The EBI details of the 75 bulls listed are based on the March 2020 genetic evaluations computed by ICBF. Semen from each bull has been indicated as available by the AI companies, hence the term ‘Active’ Bull List.

The criteria for making the list is as follows:

This year is the 20th year of ICBF’s Spring Active Bull List. There are now 67 Irish bred bulls on the list. This means that nearly 90% of the bulls on our national dairy bull list were bred here in Ireland.

This wasn’t always the case. In 2001, there were just two bulls on the list bred here in Ireland. Holland, France, New Zealand and America have generally been where most of the bulls on the list have come from.

This trend started to change around 2009, when the first of the Gene Ireland Irish progeny-tested bulls started to come through. Foreign bred bulls this year come from: Canada (four), USA (two), Britain (one) and New Zealand (one).

This year’s list is made up of 73 Holstein/Friesian bulls, one pure-bred and one cross-bred Jersey bull. The 75 bulls have breeding values for EBI and the seven sub-indices, together with trait information on 10 key profit traits. All of the bulls are genotyped and none of them are carriers of genetic defects such as CVM or BLAD.

The 75 bulls on the list have EBIs that range from €371 down to €256.

Of all the bulls on the list, 49 (65%) came through Gene Ireland. There are 65 ‘Genomically Selected’ (GS) bulls. Seven of the bulls are daughter-proven in Ireland (DP-IRL) and three are Daughter Proven with foreign daughters (DP-INT).

Guide to reading the table

It is important to note that milking time has been adjusted for milk yield, so it’s not penalizing bulls with high volumes of milk.

Read more

Watch: all systems go in Wexford

Kerry lifts milk price but doesn’t make the top