Paratrooper P15 involved in legal drama

One of the beef industry’s best-known Angus bulls has become involved in a legal matter – over issues with semen quality.

One of the nation’s best-known Angus bulls has been caught up in a semen quality saga.

Paratrooper P15 is regarded as a key performer in the Angus breed and had a hefty semen price of about $160 a straw.

But an advertisement has appeared in regional media asking for anyone who has used semen from the bull in the past year to contact Queensland legal firm Creevey Horrell.

Creevey Horrell principal Dan Creevey said he was acting for a single client but had “anecdotal evidence from several sources of problems”.

“We have no idea of damages yet and are not aware of any class action,” Mr Creevey said.

The advertisement asks for those who have used Paratrooper P15 semen in their artificial insemination program in November last year to contact the legal firm.

The Weekly Times understands that rather than a question of semen quality from a specific bull, the problem is more to do with the way the semen was processed, and that other bulls may be caught up in the same issue.

Paratrooper P15

But it’s the attention-grabbing Paratrooper P15, which sold for $160,000 in 2019, that has brought the issue into the spotlight.

At the Millah MurrahAngus sale at Bathurst, NSW, in September this year, 44 sons of Paratrooper P15 averaged $49,682.

One producer, who did not wish to be named, said he knew of issues with semen quality and had been approached to join legal action but declined to be involved.

Semen sales for the bull are handled through ABS.

The Weekly Times made several approaches to ABS Australia general manager Marcus Rees for comment but messages were not returned.