Priests Sierra: Bull with 150k offspring enters 'hall of fame'

KiwiCross artificial breeding bull, Priests Sierra, has been inducted into LIC's Hall of Fame for his significant contribution to New Zealand's dairy industry. Photo / Supplied

A 12-year-old bull with over 150,000 daughters has been inducted into an elite animal "Hall of Fame" for his outstanding contribution to dairy herd improvement in New Zealand.

Priests Sierra is the latest artificial breeding bull to enter farmer-owned co-operative LIC's Hall of Fame, which dates back to the 1950s.

Priests Sierra was part of LIC's Premier Sires artificial breeding bull team for eight years - a record jointly held with just one other bull.

Sierra was involved in 797,207 inseminations, fathered 151,937 daughters and produced eight sons which are in LIC's premier sires bull team.

LIC Livestock Selection Manager Simon Worth said Sierra had a significant impact in helping to improve the production efficiency of New Zealand's national dairy herd.

"Breeding the best cows faster is key to helping farmers solve the challenge of being profitable and sustainable and it's elite bulls like Sierra that are helping farmers do exactly that."

It was "extremely impressive" for Sierra to be on the team for eight years, Worth said.

"There's a lot of boxes a bull needs to tick to earn a spot in one of our teams and they can be quickly superseded by the next generation of elite young bulls from our breeding programme."

Priests Sierra was bred by Waikato farmer Rowan Priest and had been a favourite through the breeding programme, with eight of his sons also making the cut to join LIC's Premier Sires bull team, Worth said.

"It is fantastic to see so many of his daughters, sons and grandsons continuing his legacy and contributing to the next generation too."

Sierra is the 59th inductee into LICs Hall of Fame.