UNITED KINGDOM-A LIMOUSIN bull has set a new record price for sales of semen.
Two straws from Greensons Gigolo were sold for 750gns - £787 - each at a sale held by Bailea & Curry at Carlisle.
The undisclosed buyer set a UK record for beef semen sold through an auction ring - in February last year Gigolos semen sold for £450 per straw.
Bred by D & M K Green & Sons of Cambridgeshire in January 1991, he was bought by the Bailea herd of M T Jones & Son of Sennybridge, Brecon, in 1992.
Through the Bailea herd, Gigolo became a renowned and prolific breeder of quality pedigree Limousin bulls sold throughout the UK. His progeny include the then record priced Bailea Imij which made 17,000gns at Perth in 1995. He has also bred outstanding females and features in the dam line of top selling bulls Bailea Olympia and Bailea Spunkie amongst many others.
An equally noted AI bull, he has more than 1,500 progeny registered with the British Limousin Cattle Society, making him the fifth most prolific bull of all time in the Society’s herdbook. Gigolo was the AI sire of Queenshead Altea, the 52,000gns champion bull sold by John and Pat Varley of Queensbury, Bradford, at Carlisle in May 2007.
Other noted progeny include Bridgeford Saskia the 2004 ILC Female Champion; Cockleshell Tiffany who sold at the ILC Elite Sale August 2004 for the top female price of 13,000gns; Balnacraig Randall sold for 11,000gns at Perth in 2002; and the noted Genus sire Cockleshell Olympus.
In December 2004, the maiden heifer Bailea Umandy who is out of a Greensons Gigolo sired dam, was sold for a world record price of 50,000gns at Carlisle. At Bailea’s fourth annual sale held on Friday at Carlisle, the top four prices all strongly featured Gigolo in their pedigree including the top price Bailea Catkin at 22,000gns.
