The most popular sire breed of suckler-bred calves born in 2023 was Limousin, according to figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM’s) 2023 Animal Identification and Movement (AIM) report.
According to the report, a total of 791,715 calves were registered to beef-breed dams in 2023.
Just under 286,500 suckler cows delivered a Limousin calf in 2023 with Limousin sires accounting for 36.2% of the suckler calf crop.
The second most popular suckler calf sire in 2023 was Charolais with just under 251,000 calves born in 2023 registered to a Charolais bull accounting for 31.7% of all suckler-bred calves.
Aberdeen Angus was the third most popular sire breed for suckler calves born last year according to the report with just over 93,300 suckler-bred Angus-sired calves born accounting for 11.8% of the suckler calf crop last year.
Simmental, Hereford and Belgian Blue were the fourth, fifth and sixth consecutive most popular sires for the suckler calves born in 2023.
39,400 Simmental, 32,600 Hereford and 23,000 Belgian Blue sires suckler-bred calves were born in 2023 accounting for 5%, 4.1% and 2.9% of the 2023 suckler calf crop respectively.
The report notes just over 65,900 calves or 8.3% of suckler-bred calves born in 2023 were registered to other breeds of sire.
Most popular sire breed for dairy dams
Looking at the calves born in 2023 with dairy-breed dams and Friesian was the most popular sire breed accounting for just under 726,000 calves or 45.2% of all dairy-bred calves.
The second most popular sire for dairy-bred calves born in 2023 was Angus with just under 432,000 calves bred from dairy cows registered to Angus sires last year accounting for 26.9% of all dairy-bred calves.
Hereford was the third mos common calf sire in 2023 with 225,020 calves from the dairy herd registered to a Hereford sire, accounting for 14% of all dairy bred calves.
Limousin (54,900), Belgian Blue (38,000) and Jersey (34,240) were the fourth, fifth and sixth most popular sires for dairy-cross calves born in 2023 accounting for 3.4%, 2.4% and 2.1% respectively.
Interestingly, there were more dairy-bred calves registered to Belgian Blue sires in 2023 than were registered to Jersey sires.
The ‘other’ category accounted for 6% of all calves born from dairy cows in 2023.