Limousin, Charolais and Simmental make up 82% of suckler herd breeding animals
A survey of suckler herds carried out in the east of the country found that Limousin, Charolais and Simmental are now the dominant cow breeds in the suckler herd, totalling 82% of the breeding animals.
The Teagasc study found that Limousin is the clear choice for breeding animals at 39.5%, with Charolais at 22% and Simmental at 21.5%.
The place of Herefords has dropped to 8%, Angus comes in at 4.8% and Belgian Blue accounts for only 2.5% of the cows.
In choice of sire, the pattern changes dramatically in favour of Charolais, totalling two thirds of AI sire use, followed by Limousin and Belgian Blue.
The survey showed that usage of AI for mating varies between 13% and 80%.
There has been a dramatic move away from dairy genetics in the suckler dams.
Cows now have 58% continental genetics on average. In a number of herds, the suckler cows are already three quarters to seven eights continental.
The herds evaluated in the survey averaged 42 cows, which is two and a half times the national average for suckler herds.
