Agriland spoke with a number of artificial insemination (AI) companies about the criteria being selected for sires this breeding season and what the trends were prior to breeding.

The breeding season is within touching distance now and many farmers will have selected their sires or are in the final stages of bull team selection.

It is now time to get an understanding of what criteria dairy farmers are using to select their bulls to breed their replacements and what they are using for their non-replacements.

A focus on milk kg and milk solids remains for dairy farmers, with many focusing on bulls that will increase milk solids through percentages.

There is also a focus on the health figure, according to a number of the companies, as choosing bulls that are positive for health is becoming just standard.

An increase in the use of continental sires is also being seen in terms of dairy-beef, with Charolais and particularly Belgian Blue being popular – but Angus, followed by Hereford, will remain the most popular used beef sire on dairy cows and heifers.

Technical sales manager at Progressive Genetics, Shane Leane, told Agriland that there is still a great demand for sexed semen with demand increasing year on year.

Leane said that conventional sales still remain strong but, with the increase in dairy beef straw sales, the more favourable option is to go with sexed dairy AI and dairy-beef straws.

He said that dairy-beef has definitely increased, as good mart prices for quality beef calves are encouraging farmers to continue with dairy-beef usage.

Some of the popular Angus sires include Tower Tommie,  HW Lord Horatio, and Intelagri Matteo. Popular Belgian Blue bulls include Stef VD Blomsteeg and Quarrybank Moneyman, with the most popular Charolais sire being Orbi.

Leane said: "The big focus is still on kgs of milk solids and selecting bulls with 0.3% fat and 0.2% protein, and we are easing into that - and farmers want a certain level of EBI (Economic Breeding Index) as well".

The technical sales manager mentioned that farmers are looking for a balanced bull, with €115 of a milk sub-index and €130-140 of a fertility sub-index.

The most popular dairy sires with Progressive Genetics are as follows:

Olcastletown Mojo (FR8709), EBI of €375, -10kg of milk with 33kg of milk solids;
Killavallia Linesman (FR1185), with an EBI of €347, 111kg of milk with 40kg of solids;
Cloonigney Pinatubo, with an EBI of €359, milk kg of 109kg with 37kg of solids.

Neil Lahart of Bó Sires said that there is a strong demand for daughter proven bulls, and that farmers are looking for cows with positive milk traits.

Lahart has seen a strong surge for bulls that induce milk into the herd and drive on kg of milk solids while also bringing power, strength, and type.

Lahart told Agriland that he has seen a strong interest in outcrosses, with the aim to increase the genetic diversity of the herd as he said "the gene pool is getting very narrow".

He said there has been an increase in sexed semen usage and that dairy-beef is gaining popularity as "herds are quite static" and are at their desired numbers.

The most popular dairy sires with Bó Sires are as follows:

Tolean (FR9753), he has an EBI of €286 with 440kg of milk, 20kg of fat and 20kg of protein;
Big Deal (FR8995), he has 334kg of milk, 16 kg of fat and 13kg of protein;
Antartica (FR6106), he has an EBI of €218 with 342kg of milk with 19kg of fat and 17 kg of protein.

The most popular beef sires on offer so far this year are the Aberdeen Angus bulls Savoy (AA6999) and New Holland (AA4442) and the Hereford bull Superstar (HE7137).

Bó Sires also offer Coopex Montbeliarde sires, which offer that strength, power, production, and longevity farmers are looking for.

The most popular Montbeliarde bulls are Royco (MO9890), Skiper (MO1623), and Trevillers.

Bó Sires said the Montbeliarde bulls are proving popular again this year with farmers realising their ability to add strength, power and milk to their herd.

Agriland spoke to LIC breeding advisor William Walsh, who also said that sexed semen is increasing year on year, particularly with crossbred herds.

In terms of the demand for the Friesian sires, the popular bulls so far have been Bellamys DM Galant-Et S1F (FR9817), he is over 10% solids in New Zealand (NZ) – with 5.7% fat and 4.3% protein or 0.45% fat and 0.25% protein in Ireland.

Walsh said: "there is a new line of young Friesians coming from New Zealand that are being heavily used on Irish herds this year.

Another Friesian bull that is proving popular is Scotts BV Darius-ET which "gives you a little more volume with the percentages and is daughter proven in New Zealand."

Walsh couldn't express enough the demand for their Friesian bulls this year due to their high solids and capacity.

The most popular Kiwi-cross bulls seem to be Dawson Whakatupu-ET (JEX326), a bull with 80kgs of milk solids and over 10% solids in NZ and Werders Premonition (JEX143), a bull with 4.3% protein and 6.1% fat in NZ.

There is still a demand for Jersey sires with  Ulmarra TT Gallivant (JE6238) being the most popular again this year, a bull with an EBI of €243 and is "daughter proven with big type", according to Walsh.

Moving to the beef sires, the Charolais sire brought in by LIC Kakahu 200801 (CH9454) is in demand.

This sire is a short gestation sire, calving down 7-14 days early and likewise the Shrimpton Hill Hereford bulls are again proving popular.

Chief executive of Bullwise, Terry Dillon told Agriland that there is a big emphasis on milk this year, followed by kilos of milk solids and percentages.

Dillon believes that "with the genomics, there is a lot of lads disappointed" with the cows that are being bred on their farms.

The trend this year, according to Dillon, is to choose daughter proven bulls that give the farmer balance, strength, production, and components.

The CRV Dutch bulls that Dillon and Bullwise bring into the country offer an efficiency index, which is an accurate measure of the cow's future performance and profitability.

In terms of the NZ bulls that Bullwise are bringing into the country, Dillon said that farmers are looking for daughter proven bulls that bring solids from their Friesian and crossbred range.

The top three dairy bulls so far in 2025 coming from Bullwise are as follows:

Delta Smash (FR1311), a bull with 486kg of milk and 49kg of milk solids;
Delta Primetime PP Red (FR9750), a bull with 478kg of milk with 41kg of milk solids:
Delta Xander (FR8787), a bull with 401kg of milk with 46kg of milk solids.

In terms of the NZ Friesian, the most popular bulls are Diprose Mast Alpha, Meander SB Allias (FR9190) and Symes SB Checkbook (FR9493), with Burgess Prague being the most popular Jersey bull.

Dillon mentioned that dairy-beef is proving more and more popular, especially when a lot of sexed semen is being used with their most popular beef bulls being Rea Darius, am Angus bull with a DBI (Dairy Beef Index) of €178 as Hereford and Angus are proving the most popular again.

Another bull proving popular is a Belgian Blue bull Stoevelaar Jord (BB9487), with a DBI of €132.

Stay tuned to Agriland in the next few days to hear what the trends are with other AI companies, including Eurogene, Munster Bovine, Dúnmasc and Dovea.