Tully Champions Selected Pre-Sale

Stephen Conroy ICBF

The champion beef bulls were selected pre-sale from each of the main breeds that participated in the latest Tully intake. Some 105 bulls, across nine different breeds, were involved in the latest intake. All 105 bulls finished their 90 day performance test on the 6th of April and will be offered up for sale at a special high index, high health status sale, to be held at the Tully performance test centre, Kildare on Monday 3rd May, starting at 12 noon. Details of the winning bulls and breeders are given in Table 1. In addition, each champion bull is pictured on this page.

Table 1. Performance and Indexes of Champion bulls at Tully*

Breed	Name	Ave Daily Gain	Feed Conv Eff (DMI/ADG)	Scan Muscle Dept (mm)	Scan Fat Dept (mm)	SBV (€)	Rank out of 100
BB	Ballyfin Drifter Et	2.2	5.2	90	3.8	103	63	view image
HE	Athgoelyons 1 Michael	2.1	4.7	65	7.3	57	75	view image
SA	Ashbury Jupitor	2.6	4.7	76	3.4	93	92	view image
AA	Sheemore Prince J295	2.6	5.5	79	9.3	81	99	view image
LM	Shancrock Evan Et	2.2	5.5	95	3.9	147	99	view image
CH	Lisnagre Elite Et	2.2	5.5	101	4.1	168	99	view image
SI	Essgee Arizona	2.5	5.1	85	4.3	183	99	view image

* There were insufficient breed numbers to select champion bulls from the Speckle Park and Aubrac breeds.

Selecting the Champion Bulls

The Champion bulls (see pictures) were identified within each breed based on 3 main criteria. These criteria were;

• Visual Score (33%). All bulls were assessed by one “master scorer”, working on behalf of ICBF and the each of the beef herdbooks.
• €uro-Star indexes (33%). These were based on the latest official indexes from ICBF (April 2010). As can be seen from Table 1, the group of bulls were exceptional in this regard, with four of the bulls ranking in the top 1% within each of their relevant breeds on SBV.
• Tully performance data (33%). The Tully performance test involves subjecting the bulls to uniform feeding, housing and management conditions. During the performance test, bulls are weighed every 21 days with individual feed intake being obtained daily. Other measurements taken at Tully include; (i) Average daily gain (kg/day): A key indicator of growth rate, (ii) Feed conversion efficiency (DMI/ADG): The ratio describing the amount of feed consumed per unit of production. It is important to identify animals that are efficient users of feed, with low values representing more efficient animals, (iii) Scanned muscle and fat depth (mm): These traits are accurate indicators of meat and fat yield, and (iv) Scrotal circumference (cm): Increased scrotal circumference is associated with earlier age at puberty, increased semen production and improved semen quality. It also has a favourable relationship with daughter female fertility.

All bulls were scored according to the above criteria, with the top bulls then selected from within each breed based on this analysis. The champion bulls are a reflection of the exceptional quality of bulls available for purchase at the up-coming sale, with each having excellent performance figures (Table 1). For example, average daily gain ranged from 2.0 to 2.6 kg per day across the seven breeds and four of the seven bulls are placed in the top 1% of their breed based on SBV. It is now clear that the objectives of Tully are being achieved; to provide elite high genetic merit and high health status bulls to the beef industry, thereby allowing breeders to increase the profitability of their beef herds.

High Health Status Bulls.

Farmers are becoming increasingly aware of the risk of introducing new diseases into their herd as a result of purchasing a bull. Thankfully this is much less of a concern when purchasing bulls from Tully, as all bulls have been selected from high health status herds and have undergone rigorous testing before and during their Tully test period to ensure that they are clear of infectious diseases such as IBR, BVD, Johne’s and EBL

The process of ensuring high health status bulls begins with the on-farm health testing of the breeder herd, which involves a maximum of 20 animals in the herd (including the candidate animal) being tested for the above 4 diseases. This allows us build up a profile of the health status of the whole herd. Bulls that meet the on-farm health testing criteria are then accepted into Tully where they are isolated for a further 30 day period. Once in isolation, a blood sample is obtained weekly for three weeks, with further testing for the various diseases to ensure that no bull became infected during on-farm testing and/or entry into Tully. During the performance test, strict monitoring in terms of health status continues to takes place. Thus farmers purchasing bulls from Tully can be confident that every effort has been undertaken to ensure that a clean high health status bull is available for purchase.

Up-coming High Index and High Health status Sale

The Champion bulls detailed on this page are among the 105 bulls available for purchase at the up-coming Tully sale. The bulls on offer consist of; 40 Limousins, 26 Charolais, 13 Angus, one Aubrac, four Belgian Blue, five Hereford, four Saler, 10 Simmental and two Speckle Park’s. Bulls will be between 13 and 19 months of age. The bulls are currently being fed a declining level of concentrates, thus ensuring that they will be acclimatised to their new on-farm environment post sale. Almost 2/3 of the bulls are 5 stars on Suckler Beef Value (SBV), with 35 bulls being in the top 5% of their breed on SBV and 14 bulls being in the top 1%. In addition all bulls have been tested clear of IBR, BVD, Johnne’s and EBL. Therefore if it is elite high index, high health status bulls that you require for your breeding herd, then we advise you to make your way to the Tully bull sale on the 3rd May. The Tully Bull performance test centre is located 5 minutes from Kildare town, at exit 13 of the M7 motorway. The sale starts at 12 noon. For more information or a copy of the catalogue, please contact Stephen or Niall on 045-521573.

A free copy of the catalogue is also available for download at http://www.icbf.com/services/tully/index.php.