ICBF: What are the most-used bulls so far this year?
As we are now over halfway through the year and the breeding season on many dairy farms has well progressed, what bulls have farmers been using?
Hopefully by now, the breeding season is beginning to calm down on many spring calving dairy herds as heat activity should quieten down and most dairy artificial insemination (AI) serves should be wrapped up.
Typically, farmers will use dairy AI for the first few weeks of the breeding season and continue to use to beef AI for the remainder of the season, or opt to let out a stock bull to mop up repeats or late calving cows.
The number one most used dairy bull this year is the much disputed FR7929 (IG) Tankardsrock Teak, with 30,267 handheld serves recorded, according to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).
The most recent ICBF genetic evaluations saw Tankardsrock Teak drop in Economic Breeding Index (EBI) from €370 in March to €287 currently, after having previously held the top position on the ICBF Active Bull List prior to the most recent genetic evaluation.
In the latest update, his ranking has dropped significantly as he fell 200 places to 201st. This decline is largely attributed to a reduction of €73 in his Fertility Sub-Index, which also impacted his Carbon Sub-Index, decreasing it by €8.
The ICBF has accumulated the dairy sires with the most serves recorded to date in 2025. The results are based on the analysis of insemination data collected from AI technicians linked to the ICBF database, through their AI handheld system.
The top 20 most-used dairy bulls to date in 2025 are as follows:
| Bull | Num of serves | EBI | Milk Kg | Fat Kg | Protein Kg | Fat % | Protein % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Tankardsrock Teak (FR7929) | 30,267 | 287 | 205 | 20.1 | 13.8 | 0.30 | 0.12 |
| 2. Olcastletown Mojo (FR8709) | 29,610 | €374 | -30 | 20.6 | 11.8 | 0.38 | 0.22 |
| 3. Killavalla Linesman (FR1185) | 17,886 | €323 | 116 | 22.8 | 16.7 | 0.31 | 0.22 |
| 4. Ballydehob Ringo (FR9842) | 17,601 | €322 | 145 | 22.0 | 13.2 | 0.28 | 0.14 |
| 5. Tinahill Grandslam (FR9016) | 14,950 | €342 | 70 | 18.2 | 15.6 | 0.27 | 0.23 |
| 6. Tuohy Historic (FR8658) | 14,585 | €321 | 173 | 17.5 | 17.1 | 0.18 | 0.19 |
| 7. Laharn Bruno (FR9816) | 11,968 | €348 | 16 | 16.8 | 12.5 | 0.28 | 0.21 |
| 8. Killalough Kaolin SRM (FR9848) | 11,836 | €310 | 46 | 23.0 | 14.8 | 0.37 | 0.23 |
| 9. Johnswell Rory (FR9289) | 11,584 | €320 | 323 | 23.7 | 18.3 | 0.18 | 0.12 |
| 10. Olcastletown Castletown SRM (FR9034) | 10,408 | €319 | 52 | 20.5 | 12.2 | 0.32 | 0.18 |
| 11. Cloonigney Pinatubo (FR5816) | 9,431 | €323 | 120 | 22.1 | 14.8 | 0.30 | 0.18 |
| 12. Derrymeleen Exude SRM (FR8466) | 9,374 | €347 | 64 | 22.8 | 11.8 | 0.35 | 0.17 |
| 13. Clochrua Messi (FR9358) | 8,799 | €318 | 31 | 20.0 | 15.6 | 0.33 | 0.25 |
| 14. Doonmanagh Paulson (FR9001) | 8,106 | €310 | 83 | 18.2 | 14.5 | 0.26 | 0.20 |
| 15. Cloonigney Lobster (FR9148) | 7,594 | €299 | 124 | 22.5 | 14.0 | 0.30 | 0.17 |
| 16. Sulan Quest (FR1194) | 7,285 | €321 | 136 | 21.8 | 14.5 | 0.28 | 0.17 |
| 17. Dungrange Dan (FR9316) | 7,195 | €291 | 212 | 24.6 | 14.5 | 0.27 | 0.12 |
| 18. Olcastletown Tiernan (FR5857) | 6,613 | €273 | 170 | 22.0 | 15.9 | 0.26 | 0.17 |
| 19. Knocksouna Swoop (FR8388) | 6,592 | €327 | 104 | 18.3 | 14.2 | 0.24 | 0.18 |
| 20. Glenaboy Allstar SRM (FR8893) | 6,409 | €349 | 24 | 19.8 | 13.9 | 0.33 | 0.23 |
There were a total of 418,516 dairy serves recorded on handhelds to date this year according to the ICBF.
A lot of dairy AI serves will be finished up for the year besides for those serving cows this December for autumn calving, meaning that the top 20 list should not change drastically for the second half of the year.
The top 20 bulls account for 59% of the total dairy serves recorded on handhelds.
The top 20 most-used beef sires on the dairy herd in 2025 (to date) are as follows:
| Rank | Num of serves | AI code | Bull Name | Breed | Dairy Beef Index (DBI) | DBI BEEF SI | DBI CALVING SI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 32,855 | AA6682 | HW LORD HORATIO V538 | AA | €150 | €99 | €42 |
| 2 | 15,009 | HE9382 | GOULDINGPOLL 1 NIJINSKY PP | HE | €110 | €95 | €9 |
| 3 | 11,921 | AA4631 | GABRIEL PAT 1949 | AA | €163 | €101 | €52 |
| 4 | 11,801 | AA4089 | INTELAGRI MATTEO E.T. (ET) | AA | €176 | €104 | €62 |
| 5 | 11,524 | AA7506 | TOWER TOMMIE | AA | €168 | €108 | €51 |
| 6 | 8,802 | AA9607 | SHANAWAY VENGABUS | AA | €196 | €128 | €59 |
| 7 | 7,949 | AA4743 | KEALKIL PRIME LAD | AA | €175 | €98 | €65 |
| 8 | 7,866 | BB8496 | STEF VD BLOMSTEEG | BB | €150 | €162 | -€9 |
| 9 | 7,770 | AA8472 | TUBRIDMORE TWOMEY ET | AA | €163 | €102 | €51 |
| 10 | 6,040 | HE5455 | BARWISE 1 RICOCHET PP | HE | €151 | €94 | €46 |
| 11 | 5,773 | AA9860 | WESTELLEN BOSS Y929 | AA | €176 | €120 | €51 |
| 12 | 5,598 | BB7221 | QUARRY BANK MONEYMAN | BB | €170 | €141 | €32 |
| 13 | 5,394 | CH6490 | ORBI | CH | €127 | €165 | -€27 |
| 14 | 5,361 | BB9460 | BBG ELK 2341 DE BOULOGNE | BB | €163 | €136 | €30 |
| 15 | 5,110 | HE7545 | SKEHANORE FRUITFUL | HE | €104 | €70 | €28 |
| 16 | 5,088 | BB9373 | ENLEVE DU BOIS DESNEUX | BB | €159 | €152 | €11 |
| 17 | 5,037 | CH4321 | LAPON | CH | €146 | €194 | -€35 |
| 18 | 4,711 | AA4235 | GABRIEL MOSSY 1727 | AA | €153 | €94 | €50 |
| 19 | 2,811 | LM7416 | POWERFUL PROPER | LM | €155 | €162 | €2 |
| 20 | 2,520 | LM9379 | SHANNON STAN | LM | €188 | €192 | €3 |
There were a total of 357,965 beef serves recorded on dairy cows from AI handhelds to date this year. This number may increase steadily over the next number of weeks and cause rankings to change slightly.
