25 April 2025
‘The stock bull getting injured has proved to be a blessing in disguise’
Teagasc Beef Specialist, Catherine Egan and Teagasc Advisor, Ross Fitzgerald detail how the move to AI has benefited Co. Galway suckler farmer, Niall Ryan.
Niall Ryan farms part-time with his father Joe, and wife Deirdre, just outside Glenamaddy in Co. Galway. The suckler herd comprises of 40 Parthenaise and Limousin cows. Bulls are sold as weanlings and heifers are either kept as replacements or finished.
“Since taking over in 2008 I have been using AI,” Niall said. “We also had a Limousin stock bull. In 2021, the stock bull got injured and we bought a new one. The following year, after having served only five cows he got injured and I decided to go 100% AI.”
Niall purchased a vasectomised bull and fitted him with a chin ball for heat detection. Niall uses the AM/PM rule for timing AI.
“I have a wide selection of cows in the herd. AI enables me to match a particular AI sire to each cow and this is important particularly when I breed my own replacements.
“Using AI has enabled me to restrict my calving season to eight weeks which has definitely helped as I am working off-farm. AI has also opened up markets for bull calves to be sold as weanlings, stores or exported,” Niall explained.
Dual purpose sires
On sire selection, Niall explained: “Most sires are terminal and I try to select dual purpose that are suitable for breeding with milk or produce a good weanling for sale. Docility is also important.
“Last year I used CH6490 which has 34kg beef carcass and 1.96 carcass confirmation. The sire is easy calving 4.5% and has a reliability of 99%. I also used LM8622 with a carcass weight of 38.9kg and carcass confirmation of 2.46 and is easy calving. I used LM8259 which has 29.6kg beef carcass and 2.48 carcass confirmation. The sire is easy calving 4.1% and has a reliability of 96%,” Niall added.
On the sires used on replacement heifers, Niall’s main focus is on ease of calving and high reliability, adding: “I use an AI sire called Powerful Proper LM7416. The sire has a heifer calving difficulty of 7.2% and reliability of 99%.
“I also used this sire on the last few cows that were AId as they will be calving at the end of the calving season it’s important that these cows will calve without difficulty. This is important from a labour point of view and also that they will go back in calf within the eight-week breeding season.”
The labour aspect
Although first concerned about the labour involved in getting cows in calf using AI, Niall noted that the use of a few reels and pigtail posts makes it very simple to get the cows in for breeding.
“Last year I AId for 54 days, and calving season was 54 days. 55% of the cows held to first serve and 92% were in calf after the second service. Based on AI dates there is potential to have 89% of the herd calved in six weeks.”
To keep the calving pattern tight, synchronisation will be used on the farm this year. On its use, Niall commented: “This year I will use a CIDR on any cow that is not showing heat four weeks into the breeding season. This will help keep my breeding season tight. The stock bull getting injured is now a blessing in disguise and I wouldn’t go back.”
Local Teagasc Advisor, Ross Fitzgerald said: “Every year I get calls from farmers about bull fertility or injury issues. Niall’s weaning performance report shows that the use of AI is certainly paying off, with bulls gaining 1.3kg of live weight each day and heifers gaining 1.21 kg.”
The above article was first published in the March-April of Today’s Farm as part of the focus: ‘Artificial insemination in the suckler herd’. View the full issue of Today’s Farm (PDF) here for more details.
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