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.

We are officially a month into the breeding season, with most farmers now finished or in the final stages of breeding replacement heifers.

The focus will now switch to dairy-beef, and considering the premiums available in marts for good stock this year, farmers will be eager to get their breeding right.

The increase in the use of continental sires continues, with Charolais and particularly Belgian Blue being popular again this year.

Despite this, Angus continues to be the driving force behind dairy beef, especially in the later stage of the breeding season.

For dairy replacements, that focus on milk kg and milk solids remained evident once again this year, with many farmers focusing on bulls that will increase milk solids through percentages.

However, there is a strong focus on the health figure creeping into breeding plans now too.

Note: Figures of all bulls below from May 26, 2026 evaluations.

Munster Bovine

Agriland spoke with Munster Bovine's Tom Baker, who said the desire for good production is still evident.

Baker said: "Guys are not necessarily picking the top EBI bull anymore, but they're picking the more balanced bulls."

He said there is an appetite for kgs of milk solids, even without litres as farmers aim to boost production while maintaining litres in a bid to stay in the top end of the middle nitrates band.

He said the base change in the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) since the last breeding season did not affect things massively, noting that farmers may not pick a pull with a €-200 figure but will happily take a bull with a €-100.

Baker noted that before the base change in EBI, they had a lot of farmers looking for a milk fat drop of only 0.2-0.3; however, now farmers are picking bulls with 0.5-0.7 of a drop.

He has also noticed a big uptake in farmers selecting bulls for their health traits, especially in terms of TB resistance, with farmers trying to stay under the 8.5% TB resistance threshold.

He noted how dairy-beef is as strong as ever, with farmers seeing the value of tools like Commercial Beef Value (CBV) more than ever.

He said Angus is dominating dairy-beef with the likes of Tubridmore Twomey flying out the door, but highlighted how Belgian Blues such as Quarrybank Moneyman are also doing very well.

The most popular dairy sires selling at Munster Bovine are as follows:

PARKDUV MAGICAL(FR2534), EBI of €242, 40kg of milk with 26.76kg of solids;
BUNACLOY FANTASY (FR2533), EBI of €267. -125kg of milk with 15.26kg of solids;
BALLYDEHOB RINGO (FR9842), EBI of €194, 63kg of milk with 21.51kg of solids.

Baker said they saw big growth in sexed semen in 2025, which held steady through to this year.

Bó Sires

Neil Lahart of Bó Sires noted that farmers 'are looking for bulls from proven cow families with milk and components' this year.

That could be seen as a clear trend throughout Bó Sires top sellers, with the likes of Trandy (FR774) selling well.

Lahart highlighted that Trandy is backed by cow family, with three generations still on the farm and all back in calf.

All the sires in his pedigree are all proven bulls that have daughters milking here in Ireland.

Big Deal (FR8995) was another top seller for Bó Sires, a bull who is also from a proven cow family both here in Ireland and the Netherlands.

Lahart said: "He is a bull that stamps his progeny in a big way."

Jetze 21 (FR2905) was another top seller for Lahart's team. The pure Friesian bull was recently brought in after the Bó Sires team visited his native farm.

Lahart said that his dam and grand dam had performed really well on a low input farm, which made him all the more desirable.

Antarctica (FR6106) is another bull backed with many daughters here in Ireland, with Lahart saying "farmers keep coming back for more".

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

Lahart said: "Our wide range of Montbeliarde bulls continue to grow for us as well, especially now with their higher components and the new data that they have now on hoof health".

Progressive

Technical sales manager at Progressive Genetics, Shane Leane, told Agriland that there has been a big drive on sexed semen through the start of the breeding season, with many farmers short on dairy replacement heifers still.

From now on they will see an influx of beef straws being used.

Leane said Angus continues to be the driving force of dairy-beef, with Tubridmore Twomey ET (AA8472) and Swanky Valentino (AA1320) cleaning up.

He said conventional dairy straws have increased, and sexed semen has reduced slightly, but noted it is still in high demand.

When it comes to breeding criteria, Leane said that farmers are aiming for high percentages and high PTAs.

He noted that even with the base change, many farmers have the old figures of 0.2-0.3 in their head, which is creating a demand there.

That is evident through the most popular dairy sires sold with Progressive Genetics, which are as follows:

PARKDUV MAGICAL(FR2534), EBI of €242, 40kg of milk with 26.76kg of solids;
KILVURRA GRASSLEAF (FR1958), EBI of €265, 38kg of milk with 25.36kg of solids;
BROWNDUFF MAXICOURT (FR2922), (G1-Limited) EBI of €270, -111kg of milk with 24.4kg of solids;

Dovea

Dovea's Marty Hayes said orders were a bit slow with the spring but skyrocketed once the weather started to pick up in April.

He said they have more customers looking for dairy sexed semen this year, in hand with better dairy-beef breeding to get premiums in the mart.

Hayes said there was a big push for continentals alongside the dairy sires in the first three weeks, with the shorter gestation bulls now taking over.

In terms of breeding criteria, he said "health is new currency" as farmers are pushing for as high as health as possible.

The drive for solids off of varying levels of milk volumes is still as evident as ever in Dovea too.

Hayes also noted there has been massive demand this year for new G1 conventional straws.

MAUDMOUNT FIREPOWER SRM (FR1840), EBI of €280, -118kg of milk with 22.09kg of solids;
BALLYGOWN PETE (FR1900), EBI of €266, 45kg of milk with 26.41kg of solids;
CLOCHRUA MESSI (FR9358), EBI of €224, -86kg of milk with 21.66kg of solids.

Dúnmasc Genetics

Speaking to Dúnmasc Genetics' chief executive, Stephen Dowling, he said sexed semen was sitting at 40% in 2026 while conventional was at 60%.

In terms of criteria, Dowling said farmers are looking for positive milk bulls as they try to increase kilos of fat and protein while maintaining percentages.

Farms in areas prone to TB are selecting bulls ranked highly with TB resistance, noting that areas which are not badly hit with TB are not concerned about breeding for that trait.

Dowling has also noted a mixture between some farmers wanting proven bulls in their team, while others are happy to try genomic bulls but require larger bull teams.

The most popular dairy sires at Dúnmasc Genetics are as follows:

ILLSDALE VANCOUVER (FR1792), EBI of €197, milk kilos of 85kg with 24.5kg of solids.
RADNEY NEWTON (FR1783), EBI of €178 with 136kg of milk and 26.06kg of solids;
BLUMENFELD BUMBLEBEE-ET (FR2853), EBI of €55 with 475kg of milk and 45.08kg of solids.

Dowling said Belgian Blue has been doing very well this year with Norbert Van Krakehoeve (BB9799) flying out the door.

He said the breeds like Angus, Hereford, and Limousin are still as popular as ever too, with Carrigroe Vice President (AA1022) doing very well.