Gigolo semen sells for uk record price of £480 - farmers weekly

Two straws of Greensons Gigolo semen went under the hammer for £900 at the Limousin Spring Sale held at Dungannon. Offered for sale by W J Bradley and Son, Knockloughrim, Co Londonderry, the

two straws sold for £450 apiece to Crawford Bros, Rathkeeland, Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh. This is believed to be a United Kingdom record for beef semen sold through an auction ring and

surpasses the £210 per straw price for Tarvis semen sold by Lanarkshire Limousin breeder Norman Cruickshank. Greensons Gigolo was bred by Cambridgeshire-based breeder D and M K Green and

Sons, Tunbridge Court, Bottisham. Born in January 1991, Greensons Gigolo was purchased by the Bailea herd of M T Jones and Son, Bailea, Sennybridge, Brecon in 1992 after being shown at the

prestigious Limousin 2000 Show. His progeny included the then record priced Bailea Imij which made 17,000gns at Perth Bull Sale in 1995. Gigolo has also bred some outstanding females in the

Bailea herd and features in the dam line of top selling bulls Bailea Olympia and Bailea Spunkie amongst many others. Standing the test of time and increasing the demand for his semen,

Greensons Gigolo was the AI sire of Queenshead Altea, the 52,000gns Champion Bull sold by John and Pat Varley, Queensbury, Bradford at Carlisle in May 2007. Other noted progeny include

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 to name but a few. Greensons Gigolo is by Titan and is out of the dam, Surprise, who was the top ranking cow in the 1993 and 1994 British Limousin National Dam Register.

According to purchaser Raymond Crawford, six cows have been selected both on genetics and conformation, to best match the mating of Gigolo with the aim of getting as many females as possible

for the basis of a Gigolo cow family.