Payday Loans Payday Loans

Archive for Mating Recomendations

Where is the Balance in Balanced Breeding?

By Murray Hunt · Comments (0)
Thursday, April 18th, 2013

Over the past couple of weeks I have heard numerous references to the word ‘balance’ when referring to the dairy cattle breeding industry. Do we over use the term? Or worse still do we use it incorrectly? At this moment I am thinking ‘yes I don’t think we do justice to the word when it comes to genetically advancing our dairy cattle’. But let’s take a look at how we do use the term.

Numerous Interpretations

Two weeks ago at the Quebec Holstein Spring Show (Read more: Do We Speak the Same Language? and Quebec Spring Show Results) I had the opportunity to converse with a veteran dairy farm manager from Europe who spoke to me about balancing his time between breeding better cattle and the economics of running a successful dairy farm.

A week ago today a breeder, who was about to receive his Canadian Master Breeder Shield, defined for me balanced breeding as placing equal emphasis on production and type when he selects bulls and culls cows (Read more: Holstein Canada Annual Meeting 2012 – From Coveralls to Niagara Falls).

Last Thursday at the Ontario Dairy Discovery Show (Read more: Ontario Spring Discovery – Nothing Slipped Past Judge “Crack” and Ontario Spring Discovery Results) a breeder who regularly exhibits cattle at all levels described to me that balanced breeding was breeding for type and then feeding for production.

RF GOLDWYN HAILEY EX-97-CAN Considered by many to be one of the most balanced conformation cows in the history of the Holstein breed.

RF GOLDWYN HAILEY EX-97-CAN
Considered by many to be one of the most balanced conformation cows in the history of the Holstein breed.

On Friday at the Canadian Holstein Annual Meeting, an attentive audience heard Chief Classifier, Tom Byers (Read more: TOM BYERS: “THAT’S CLASSIFIED!”), describe that a cow’s parts need to be in balance. “That varies depending on whether you are looking at a just fresh 24 month old heifer or a mature cow 120 days in milk in her sixth plus lactation” said Byers.

This past Monday, as I attended the New York Spring Holstein Show (Read more: RF Goldwyn Hailey Rides to the Top Spot at NY Spring Carousel and New York Spring Holstein Show 2013 Results), I heard balance or balanced used in four other ways.  A sire analyst spoke about getting the sires of sons from a balance of daughter proven and genomic evaluated bulls. Richard Keene past Holstein USA Director and very well respected cattle judge used balance in two different ways. First he spoke about the importance of balancing the emphasis being placed on cows and bulls in genetic advancement. Secondly he spoke about balancing the needs several ways – breed improvement, lifetime milk production, profits cows return to the enterprise and serving senior versus junior members. And finally the 2013 NY Holstein Spring Show Judge Michael Heath spoke about a cow having balance between dairyness and enough capacity to consume, balance in her mammary system and balance between high at the front end and ability to walk with ease.

Are you still with me?  So many uses of the word. I am sure you may be able to add other ways that you use the word balance. So why so many ways of interpreting balance?

Digging Deeper

Like beauty, balance appears to be in the eye of the beholder or the reality of the breeder.

Gerrit Wensink, EastGen Director, who milks 400 cows using six robots he feels that the Canadian Holstein Cow has improved her conformation to the point where in sire selection his emphasis is on milk component percentages and calving ease. Whereas some breeders, who will be dispersing their herds in the next few years, want to have animals for sale that will bring the highest price. And then other breeders may want to maximize revenue per stall, profit per cow per day or daily production of fat & protein per cow. Still other breeders want to minimize costs.  Minimal labour per animal, minimal health problems, the lowest replacement cost per cow per year or put in a different way the lowest reproduction costs per cow per year.

So each of us has a different definition of what Balanced Breeding means to us.

Breed Guidance

To assist breeders, organizations have developed total merit indexes that breeders can use in selection and culling. Holstein USA ranks animals using the TPI™ index. Canadian breeders have the LPI (Read more: Everything You Need To Know About TPI and LPI and TPI™ and LPI – Marketing or Mating tools?). And USDA geneticists rank animals using the Net Merit index. In fact almost every country, region or continent has a total merit index. All these indexes have many traits included with each weighted according to economic values. Breeders are encouraged to use these indexes for both genetic and marketing purposes. Yet do they in fact maximize both breed advancement and breeder profitability?

Some History – Current Needs

At various times in their histories breeds have identified major needs and focused on those needs. Holstein have genetically address low butterfat content, deep udders and high somatic cell counts. While the other breeds have all addressed low volume of milk produced. But what are breeders’ current most major needs? Genetically for the Holstein breed they could well be rear foot conformation, fertility and perhaps even feed efficiency. Are they the same for all cow housing systems? Are they different for in tie stall barn pipeline milked, parlour milked or robotically milked cows (Read more: Robotic Milking: More than just automation it’s a new style of herd management).  And yes beyond the cow, breeders also face the challenges and opportunities associated with animal welfare and increasing the profit per cow per day of life.

Robotic Milking

One young South American dairy couple recently told me that they see it quite differently. They want to breed for fat & protein yield plus fertility and manage for conformation and health. So they are only using the highest genomically evaluated Holsteins bulls for fat, protein and fertility that they can find anywhere in the world. Their idea is to drive up revenue per cow and keep costs under control.

Considering all factors, some of which may not have a genetic component, when breeding for improvement it gets to be a big challenge and perhaps we could even say complicated.

The Reality Is

There is no such thing as uniformity of breeder needs when it comes to Balanced Breeding. Total merit formulas are for the average but do not address the top priorities. For instance breeding for enhanced rear feet is very difficult as the trait is not uniformly measured and what genetic differences are known are lost when a Feet & Leg rating is produced for a bull. Definitely when it comes to the genetic difference between animals in genetic merit for fertility, we are just starting to scratch the surface.

For interest sake the Bullvine has produced articles that change the emphasis placed on traits (Read more: Bullvine Performance Index (BPI – Top Sires December 2012 and Top BPI Heifers from Around the World ) and we even produced a bull index for daughter feed efficiency ((Read more: 30 Sires That Will Produce Feed Efficient Cows). Some AI organizations also produce their own bull ranking indexes that place emphasis on major breed needs. However all of these total merit indexes come up with numbers that water down the greatest genetic needs. The end result is that we select for so many traits that we average everything out and make less than optimal progress for the areas of greatest need.

The reality is we will not make significant progress for the areas of greatest genetic need until breeders routinely use the bulls that rank in the top 1-5% of the breed. For traits like feet and female fertility for milking cows there are not even listing produced that give the top ranking bulls of the breed. How can breeders address their biggest needs when they do not have access to the best bulls there are genetically.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Balance Breeding formula are for the masses but not for the breeders truly committed to improving their herds for their greatest genetic needs. Total merit indexes are a good first sort tool for getting a short list of bulls. However breeders truly interested in genetically attacking their most limiting traits, in improving their herds and in having the facts to show when marketing their genetics, it is time to rethink if the Balanced Breeding is the right approach. To move forward genetically requires that breeders select only the best and ignore the rest.

 

Get original “Bullvine” content sent straight to your email inbox for free.

 

Comments (0)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags :

12 Sires to Use in Order to Reduce Inbreeding

By Andrew Hunt · Comments (3)
Thursday, March 14th, 2013

Inbreeding, and more importantly its consequences, has long been a concern of breeders as it reduces production, lowers fertility, results in more stillbirths and leads to fewer days in the herd.  When genomics was first introduced, the theory was that it could help limit the amount of inbreeding in Holsteins.  In reality it has done the exact opposite.  Research indicates that relationships within respective breeds could be accelerating even faster since genomics’ introduction five years ago and there is also evidence that genetic diversity, another factor of inbreeding, is shrinking.

When you look at the sires of the top 100 genomic young sires lists, you notice a decent variety of sires with 30 bulls siring the top 100 sires.  However, a pedigree analysis on only the paternal side reveals that 90 percent of the bulls either have Oman, Planet or Shottle represented as the sire or grandsire.  The remaining 10 bulls represent genetic diversity.  However, the list needs further refining because 3 of the 10 remaining bulls have Oman’s sire or Shottle’s sire in the pedigree.  That leaves seven bulls with unique sires among the Holstein breed’s elite.

To help guide breeders in dealing with this inbreeding issue, we decided to look for outcross sires either proven or genomic tested sires that would offer breeders the near maximum genetic gain while providing needed diversity.  The word outcross or what constitutes an outcross sire can be tricky depending on where you are located.  For our purposes, we are calling an outcross sire to be one that does not have Oman, Goldwyn, Planet, and Shottle anywhere in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation of their pedigree.

Balanced Overall Performance Improvement

When looking for the sire that will help improve your herd across the board, we looked for sires that have a balance of production and longevity.  We also wanted great health and fertility traits that will deliver a low maintenance cow (Read more – Fact vs. Fantasy: A realistic approach to sire selection).  Here are our top three.

  • CO-OP BOSSIDE MASSEY
    MASCOL x PECKENSTEIN FORM BRET x HA-HO CUBBY MANFRED
    Massey is a popular sire of sons combining elite indexes with a great outcross opportunity.  Massey daughters are snug uddered with strong attachments.  Though they should be protected for rump angle (high) and dairy strength, his low somatic cell score, high herd life/productive life and strong fertility make Massey a great sire for your breeding program.
  • COYNE-FARMS DORCY
    SANDY-VALLEY BOLTON X PECKENSTEIN FORM BRET x STARTMORE RUDOLPH
    Look for Dorcy to sire balanced dairy cattle that have great udders and very good feet & legs, though he will need to be protected for dairy strength, fat percent and specifically his body depth and chest width.  While his productive life and low somatic cell score make Dorcy very strong longevity sire, you will want to use him wisely  on virgin heifers as he is not a calving ease sire.
  • CO-OP BOOKEM YUXI
    DE-SU 521 BOOKEM x END-ROAD PVF BOLIVER x PECKENSTEIN FORM BRET
    Yuxi is a great sire for feed efficiency, based on his strong milk production from smaller framed and stature cattle (Read more:  30 Sires That Will Produce Feed Efficient Cows).  While he needs to be protected on loin strength and body depth, his high productive life, low somatic cell score and great calving ease will have his daughters producing milk in your herd for a long time.

Production Improvement

It might be easy to just take the top milk lists or combine the fat plus protein and say those sires are the best for overall production.  We here at the Bullvine would not want to totally forgo type as well as health and fertility, so we are looking for the sires that give you the maximum production gain, without sacrificing everything to get it.

  • KINGS-RANSOM B RUBLE
    SANDY-VALLEY BOLTON x END-ROAD PVF BOLIVER x B-Y-U MANDEL BOMBAY
    A proven sire that maybe has not caught the eye of many breeders, Ruble offers outstanding production improvement from solid type.  While certainly not a calving ease sire, Ruble will greatly increase production from strong uddered cows that have good feet and legs.
  • OCONNORS JAY
    SANDY-VALLEY BOLTON x REGANCREST ELTON DURHAM x HENKESEEN MARCIS MARVELOUS
    Coming from a strong maternal line (Read more: The Bloom is on Oconnors Goldwyn Jasmine) Jay offers great component improvement from solid production.  He also has the ability to improve overall type, especially udder attachments and texture, but should be protected on pin setting.
  • CO-OP MASTER GENO
    BOSSIDE MASSEY MASTER x BADGER-BLUFF FANNY FREDDIE x JOSE
    Talk about a challenge.  In order to find a genomic sire that met our requirements we had to go the 95th sire on our list of production improvement genomic sires.  Much like Yuxi, Geno will also produce feed efficient daughters (Read more:  30 Sires That Will Produce Feed Efficient Cows).  His strong components, especially fat, combined with great udders and strong health and fertility makes Geno a great sire to look at for a solid outcross sire.

Longevity Improvement

For those of you that are looking to breed cattle that stay around  lactation after lactation or maybe you are  having problems with your 2 year olds not coming back for a 2nd lactation, we recommend the following outcross sires, in addition to Dorcy mentioned earlier:

  • SILDAHL JETT AIR
    EMERALD-ACR-SA T-BAXTER x MARA-THON BW MARSHALL x HA-HO CUBBY MANFRED
    This outcross sire offers great longevity improvement combined with strong health and fertility.  While he does need to be protected on protein and milking speed, his great feet and legs, udders and health and fertility, make him an outcross sire you don’t want to miss.
  • BERTAIOLA MINCIO
    SANDY-VALLEY BOLTON x BOSS IRON x CAROL PRELUDE MTOTO
    With  Boss Iron daughters such as Decrausaz Iron O’Kalibra catching the eyes of the world in the show ring (Read more: The All European Champion Show: The Greatest Show On Earth), there are also Iron daughters that are getting the job done as bull mothers.  A great example of this is BEL IRON IRENE, the dam of Mincio.  This high fertility Bolton son combines high type with great production, which is resulting in outstanding results in his current daughter performance.  Watch for MINCIO to sire great udders and feet & legs though you may want to watch him on somatic cell score.
  • RONELEE DORCY DELIGENT
    COYNE-FARMS DORCY x END-ROAD PVF BOLIVER x COMESTAR OUTSIDE
    This outcross genomic sire just spells longevity.  Deligent was bred to deliver long lasting daughters.  With outstanding Herd Life/Productive Life, breed leading mammary systems scores and strong Feet and Legs scores, Deligent is a longevity specialist, though he does need to be somewhat protected for dairy strength.  Look for DELIGENT to combine this longevity with strong production and type numbers.

Health and Fertility Improvement

One area that is not getting enough attention from most breeders is health and fertility.  While there is no question that every breeder knows that more pregnancies equals more profits many of the top ranking sires actually have negative values for health and fertility.  The following are some outcross specialist sires that should help you change that:

  • PENN-ENGLAND STOCKTON
    PURSUIT SEPTEMBER STORM x FUSTEAD EMORY BLITZ x PEN-COL DUSTER
    While you certainly would not use Stockton as a production improvement sire.  His high daughter pregnancy rate, productive life and low somatic cell make Stockton the perfect sire for that high production cow you are looking to breed some health and fertility traits into.
  • CERVI PHONIC
    LATUCH ROLEX x OLMO PRELUDE TUGOLO x SHEN-VAL NV LM FORMATION
    While not a name that most breeders know, Phonic is certainly going to get some attention from breeders looking to breed to where the industry is headed.  With extremely low SCS and high daughter fertility combined with functional type and above average production, Phonic is leaving daughters that are extremely low maintenance.  Tracing back to the great Italian brood cow Cervi FIRESTONE, this family has produced such sires as BUXON, WOODSTOCK and PADERNUS.  Given his high rump angle, it is interesting that he is such a good calving ease sire.
  • BLUMENFELD LEWIS TRUE
    LATUCH FREDDIE LEWIS x LEIF x RAMOS
    Similar to finding an overall performance improver on the top genomic lists, finding a health and fertility genomic sire had us going to number 55 on our list.  Look for True to sire outstanding udders with strong feet and legs.  He will need to be protected on loin strength.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Choosing the correct sire can be challenging enough.  Finding a sire that also offers an outcross from the main Goldwyn, Planet, Shottle and Oman can be almost impossible.  That is why we compiled these 12 sires to bring to light some outcross pedigrees that many breeders may not have heard of.  It is, certainly worth taking a look at many of these sires, when looking to combat inbreeding in your herd.


The Dairy Breeders No BS Guide to Genomics

 

Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?

Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?

Download this free guide.

 

 

 

 

Comments (3)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Holstein UK launches the all -­ new WebMate program ‘Making Breeding Decisions Easier’

By Andrew Hunt
Friday, February 8th, 2013

Utilising your whole herd classification data, this all-singing, all-dancing new fully interactive web-mating tool now makes those mating decisions even easier. A host of new farmer inspired features have been added which include:

  • Easy navigation system, allowing you to save your choices at every stage automatically along the way
  • Includes the updated Bull Selector tool
  • The new program has a semen straw limiter so you can run WebMate with the exact number of straws you have in your tank and you have the ability to set your own level of straws/pregnancy, giving you much  better control of semen purchase requirements
  • The animals don’t even have to be classified -­ you can run the program on non -­ classified animals and youngstock
  • Inbreeding levels can be calculated for every mating
  • Set you breeding aim to exactly the type of cow you want to breed, and how much emphasis you would like to place on Type and Production

Logging in couldn’t be easier

Simply jump on the website www.holstein-­‐uk.org and click on the WebMate Logo wherever you see it & enter your Prefix & PIN (your Tel-­Reg PIN number)

You can even have a go with some ‘Demo Cows’ if you aren’t a member, just choose to enter with Demo Cows on the login page!

Testomonials

WebMate has been trialled by a number of farmers, with Tim Gue of the Huddlestone herd commenting:
“The new WebMate is easy to use, and ensures the best matings with the semen in stock, you choose the type of cow you want to breed and let WebMate do the rest. Farmers know what sort of cows suit their farm, WebMate is totally independent and will choose the best matings to achieve those cows from current semen stock or allows you to see which of a group of bulls are best suited to your cows. The inbreeding indicator is going to be even more important in the future”

The program is easy to use, with Andrew Williams from Rhadyr Farms Ltd commenting:
“I found the new WebMate programme very functional and easy to use with straight forward and easy to understand instructions, I will definitely be using it as an essential tool in future breeding decisions and mating of our herd.”

If you have any questions about this free service for members, please contact feedback@holstein-­‐uk.org

Categories : Mating Recomendations

30 Sires that will produce Feed Efficient Cows

By Murray Hunt · Comments (0)
Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

Commercial milk producers want to breed cows that have high feed conversion efficiency, that avoid culling and that take the least care or staff time (Read more – Feed Efficiency: The Money Saver).  The well known and widely used total merit indexes, TPI*TM  and LPI, rank sires according to which ones leave the most profitable ideal or true type cow. However the factors in those indexes and the assumptions that are made when calculating them do not address feed, culling or low maintenance.   Milk producers are left to fend for themselves when it comes to selecting sires that will leave their kind of cows.

What’s Being Heard

Milk Producers say: “All I want is a trouble free cow that efficiently converts forages to the kind of milk my milk buyer wants.”

Veterinarians say:  “Cows must get in calf, have minimal feet problems and must not be prone to having production limiting diseases (reproduction problems, mastitis, metabolic disorders or  ..etc.).”

Farm Workers say:  “Sick animals, calving problems and animals that do not work easily within the farm system waste my time.”

Feed Advisers say: “Test your forages, feed the rumen, get the most out of your forages and the use of nutrients for both production and maintenance must be considered simultaneously (i.e. medium sized cows yielding the same as large cows are more feed efficient).”

Milk Processors say: ”Except for the milk we sell as a drink, we want the solids not the water.”

Financial Advisers say:  “Make decisions based on profit per cow, per litre, per hectare, per pound of feed consumed, per worker, …etc.”

Consumers say: – Well in fact we may not be listening to consumers (Read more – Milk Marketing: How “Got Milk?” became “Got Lost”)

There are even more voices speaking in producers ears and more words appearing on the computer screens that producers read.  With all the information that is currently available, selecting sires that best meet the needs of milk producers can be a daunting task.

Getting Started

Milk producers do not wish to deal all the numbers that appear on proof sheets. That can be a very time consuming exercise with no definitive answers at the end of it.

The Bullvine decided to research what is available today on selecting sires for feed conversion efficiency, for freedom from major known reasons for culling and for minimal extra care. We recognize that down the road there will be genomic indexes that are based on the relationship between yet to be recorded on-farm cow performance data and the DNA make-up of cows for these three areas. But today those genomic indexes do not exist.

Bullvine Efficiency Index (BEI)

Based on the information from a number of countries that we have been able to access, the Bullvine has developed the following formulas:

  1. BEI = Production (45%) + Durability (35%) + Health & Fertility (25%)
  2. Production = 30 Fat Yield + 50 Protein Yield + 10 Fat% + 10 Protein%
  3. Durability = 17 Herd Life + 42 Mammary System + 25 Feet & Legs  – 8 Body Depth – 8 Stature
  4. Health & Fertility = 46 Somatic Cell + 23 Daughter Fertility + 23 Udder Depth + 8 Milking Speed

Notes:

  1. Milk Yield is not included as it contributes to more udder strain and added milk haulage or on-farm water removal costs.
  2. The negative weightings on Body Depth and Stature reflect that larger cows  require extra feed to grow to that size and to maintain that larger size each and every day compared to cows of more moderate size.

Sire Rankings

Using CDN’s Custom Index Calculator  the following sires came to the top of the list,

CANADIANINTERNATIONALYOUNG SIRES
LONG-LANGS OMAN OMAN-ETCO-OP BOSSIDE MASSEY-ETFARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHMONEY-ET
CRACKHOLM FEVERCOYNE-FARMS DORCY-ETSOUTHERN-HILLS BAYARD-ET
BRAEDALE GOLDWYNDE-SU  CIMARRON-ETFARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHCOIN-ET
ALLYNDALE-I ATTICUSBADGER-BLUFF FANNY FREDDIEMR LOOKOUT P ENFORCER-ET
LIRR DREW DEMPSEYCERVI ALLEMAR ETCO-OP BOOKEM YUXI-ET
DE-SU GILLESPY-ETDE-SU GULF-ETCO-OP MASTER GENO-ET
GEN-I-BEQ BRAWLERBERTAIOLA MINCIO ETAMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO ET
GILLETTE JORDANGUARINI-ETTEEMAR OBSERVER ADAM-ET
GEN-I-BEQ TOPSIDEDE-SU FORK-ETDE-SU DISTINCTION 11130-ET
ENSENADA TABOO PLANET-ETDE-SU WATSONDE-SU UNO 11446-ET

Please note: Due to the fact that CDN’s Custom Index tool only allows quires by Domestic Canadian, MACE and Genomic individually it is not possible to do an overall ranking.

Key Findings

  • Except for the Domestic Canadian list only a small difference exist between bulls
  • The rankings do not always follow TPI* TM or LPI due mainly to the negative weighting on body depth and stature and increased emphasis on SCS, daughter fertility and udder depth.
  • Although Braedale Goldwyn, Sandy Valley Bolton and Picton Shottle progeny are prominent on these listings, they are from different cow families so inbreeding using the sires on these lists should not be a problem, providing a breeder does not focus on just one of them

Highlights

  • Braedale Goldwyn appears on the listings himself. As well he has six sons on the lists and is the maternal grandsire of three of the genomic bulls.
  • Sandy Valley Bolton has seven sons on the listings
  • Picton Shottle is the maternal grandsire of nine bulls on the listings
  • Oman sons Long-Langs Oman Oman and Badger-Bluff Fanny Freddie both appear on the listings, as do one son and one maternal grandson of each of them
  • De-Su Observer, yet to be daughter proven, has three sons and one maternal grandson on the genomics listing

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Commercial milk producers often want the decisions on which sires to use to be as simplified as possible. That is why the Bullvine has produced these BEI listings. With due consideration to avoid inbreeding, milk producers can expect BEI to rank bulls for them for production, durability and health & fertility with emphasis on the sires that can convert intake into milk production.

Get original “Bullvine” content sent straight to your email inbox for free.

 

Comments (0)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 12 Holstein Sires to Maximize Genetic Gain

By Andrew Hunt · Comments (2)
Monday, December 10th, 2012

With the December genetic evaluation release and all the changes to the different systems, many breeders are finding it hard to figure out   which sires are the ones they should be taking a closer look at for their breeding programs. In typical Bullvine fashion we decided to not only provide you with the top lists (Read more in our Genetic Evaluations Section) but also to look at  what sires will help you maximize your genetics, by identifying which ones  address certain needs.  Here is what we  found from the 99% Rank worldwide for their area of specialty.

Overall Performance Improvement

When looking for the sire the will help improve your herd across the board, we looked for  sires that have a balance of production and longevity. We also wanted  great health and fertility traits that will deliver a  low maintenance cow (Read more – Fact vs. Fantasy: A realistic approach to sire selection).  Here are our top three.

  • COYNE-FARMS DORCY
    (Bolton x Bret x Rudolph)
    Last proof run,  we had  concerns with Dorcy as his parent averages and DGVs were higher than his actual daughter performance. However, with his daughter numbers nearly doubling in December, his actual daughter performance  is now higher than his PA’s and right on where his DGV had been predicted.  Look for Dorcy to sire balanced dairy cattle that have great udders and very good feet & legs, though he will need to be protected for dairy strength fat percent and specifically his body depth and chest width.
  • LONG-LANGS OMAN OMAN
    (O Man x Aaron x Bellwood)
    There is no question that the story around the world is how well Man-O-Man daughters are performing (Read more – Man-O-Man will he turn platinum?)  While we are huge Man-O-Man fans, he has  yet to leave a son who has Genomic results that are  higher than his own on the CDN system (Read more – Is Man-O-Man really going to be a sire of sons?).  When it comes to your breeding goals, he certainly is a sire that should still get  consideration even for the most aggressive genomic programs.  Look for Man-O-Man to sire outstanding production from cattle who have correct  feet and legs and strong mammary systems.  One area to watch him for is his rump angle, as his daughters can be a touch high in the pins.
  • MR LOOKOUT P ENFORCER
    (Facebook x Shottle x O Man)
    One sire that is certainly going to be on the top of everyone’s list is Enforcer.  He may be hard to get your hands on as he is just one year old and Semex will probably only be releasing him for contract matings (Read more – Select Sires vs. Semex – A contrast in cooperatives). This Marbri Facebook son has the highest DGVs in the breed.  Look for him to sire extreme component yields from strong dairy cattle with great feet and legs.  One area to be cautious on using him is his body depth.  Both his sire stack and his DGVs would say this area needs protecting.  For those looking for an early release genomic sire, check out GenerVations Liquid Gold born on the same day as Enforcer but yet publically available (Read more – $750 Dollar Semen! Are you crazy?)

Production Improvement

It might be easy to just take the top milk lists or combine the fat plus protein and say those sires are the best for overall production. We here at the Bullvine would not want to totally forgo type as well as health and fertility so  we are looking for the sires that give you the maximum production gain, without  sacrificing everything to get it.  In addition to Enforcer and Man-O-Man, here are some top production sires you should consider.

  • ZANI BOLTON MASCALESE
    (Bolton x O Man x Adam)
    Much like the Nerello grapes that the Mascali area of Italy is famous for, Mascalese is a sire that works best when used to balance out a pedigree by offering a  strong production infusion.  Mascalese is the perfect mating for Planet’s, Man-O-Man’s and Goldwyn’s, as he will add the dairy strength and rump improvement that is needed.
  • DE-SU ALTAGOALMAN
    (Bolton x O Man x BW Marshall)
    Holding strong in the US proving system that saw many sires drop over the last proof round is AltaGoalman.  This proven Bolton son from the Genomic powerhouse De-Su, offers extreme production with acceptable percent components, He delivers significant overall production improvement. While AltaGoalman will not hurt your udders and legs, he certainly needs to be protected on body depth and rump.  AltaGoalman is most definitely best suited for commercial environments but can also be used for a shot of production, if used carefully.
  • TRIONE NIAGRA VIGOR
    (Niagra x O Man  x Throne)
    Certainly a sire to consider, for those looking to push the genomic envelope and yet still wanting to find new bloodlines, is Vigor. Vigor is a RI-VAL-RE 2338 NIAGRA son from a TRIONE MAN IDRA VG-89-ITA. She is from one of Italy’s most dominant cow families TRIONE AARON BELLUNA VG-89-ITA.  Idra is an O-Man daughter of TRIONE THRONE ELENA VG-88-ITA.  Look for Vigor to be the genomic equivalent of AltaGoalman and needs to be protected on rump and dairy strength but offers tremendous production improvement.  He is a great option for a progressive breeder looking to develop a more unique bloodline.

Longevity Improvement

Recent changes to the US system for productive life rankings may have breeders scratching their heads.  Here are some sires that bring some light to the situation. In addition to Dorcy and Enforcer, other sires to consider for longevity improvement are:

  • GOLDDAY
    (Goldwyn x O Man x Durham)
    Goldday is a Goldwyn son from A-L-H DESTINY VG-87-3YR-USA DOM GMD. Destiny is of course the popular bull mother from Markwell Durham Daisy (Read more – Markwell Durham Daisy – 2012 Golden Dam Finalist), proven in Germany. Goldday is also the full brother to former #1 German sire Danillo. Look for Goldday to sire unbelievable udders and legs as well as long herd life.  One area where you will want to protect Goldday is rump angle. Be cautious in using him on cattle that need production improvement.
  • BADGER-BLUFF FANNY FREDDIE
    (O Man x Die Hard x Metro)
    Freddie’s jump back to the top of the TPI list is not surprising as his daughters continue to perform.  Much like his father O Man, Freddie  was not given much use,  as his low type numbers scared many breeders away.  But, also like his father, his daughters tend to last much longer than their type numbers would indicate.   That’s because Freddie has outstanding fitness traits that helps him leave low maintenance daughters.  They are not angular and they are not deep but they do they milk hard and last long.
  • CRACKHOLM FEVER
    (Goldwyn x Blitz x Mattie G)
    Battling with GUTHRIE and the Goldwyn sons of MD-DELIGHT DURHAM ATLEE (Read more – MD-Delight Durham Atlee – 2012 Golden Dam Finalist) Fever may be the best proven Goldwyn son in the world. Fever is just one of the sires that does a lot of things right.  He has strong fitness traits combined with great type numbers that contribute to daughters lasting a long time.  Considering that production is one of the lower reasons breeders cull cattle (Read more – Fact vs. Fantasy: A realistic approach to sire selection), it’s no wonder that Fever daughters will have a long career in many herds.

Health and Fertility Improvement

As I tried to point out in our recent article, Who killed the market for good dairy cattle?, breeders need to focus more on what their actual management goals are and less on their perceptions, or misconceptions.  That means putting a greater focus on health and fertility, when choosing mating sires in your herd.  In addition to Enforcer, Fever and Freddie here are some sires to consider:

  • CERVI PHONIC
    (Rolex x Tugolo x AltaFormation)
    While not a name that most breeders know, Phonic is certainly going to get some attention from breeders looking to breed to where the industry is headed.  With extremely low SCS and high daughter fertility combined with functional type and above average production, Phonic is leaving daughters that are extremely low maintenance. Tracing back to the great Italian brood cow Cervi FIRESTONE, this family has produced such sires as BUXON, WOODSTOCK and PADERNUS. Given his high rump angle, it is interesting that he is such a good  calving ease sire.
  • ZIMMERVIEW BRITT VARS
    (Britt x Tugolo x Metro)
    In Vars you get one of the top proven sires for daughter pregnancy rate, calving ease and productive life. Surprisingly this Britt son has an outstanding fat percentage coming from his MGS Tugolo.  However, his sire stack also dictates that he very much needs to be protected on type, especially udders.  It is ironic that a sire with such high herd life also sires deep udders that need improvement in udder cleft.
  • WALHOWDON RUSSELL COBRA
    (Russell x O Man x BW Marshall)
    Cobra is an early Russell son from a deep cow family.  His genomic test results are extremely high, especially for the health and fertility traits. Breeders looking to enhance the profitability of their herd and push the genomic envelope will certainly be looking to Cobra.   Cobra should be protected on bone quality as well as body depth.

Type Improvement

Hey everyone loves a winner and extra value, so that is why we added 3 extra type improvement sires. Great show cows are as much bred as they are “made”, as is evident by some of the great show cows from Quality Holsteins (Read more – Quality Holsteins – Well-deserved congratulations)   In addition to the 7 Sires to use in order to breed the next world dairy expo champion, we offer these three sires to consider.

  • GEN-MARK STMATIC SANCHEZ
    (Stormatic x BW Marshall x Winchester)
    Breeders who were are the 2012 Royal Winter Fair (Read more – The 2012 Royal Winter Fair – One of the greatest stories every told!) will certainly find it hard to argue with this selection.  Valleyvillle Rae Lyn VG-89-2YR, sired by Sanchez certainly impressed many and will give even the best Goldwyns a run for their money in 2014 (Read more – Quality Cattle Look Good Every Day). Look for Sanchez to sire extreme frames and superb feet and legs, though he may need to be protected on rear teat position and teat length
  • TOC-FARM DUPLEX GLAUCO
    (Duplex x Allen x Progress)
    For those of you looking for something with an international flair but a solid base, there is Glauco.  Glauco is the Duplex son of the great Italian show cow TOC-FARM ALLEN AMYLY EX-96-ITA, who is from a EX-93-ITA Progress and then the great brood cow SUNNYLODGE SKYCHIEF AMY EX-95-2E-GBR 5* who of course is from an EX-2E 8* Tab then the legendary SUNNYLODGE PRELUDE SPOTTIE VG-87-3YR-CAN 18*.  Glauco daughters are extremely tall and open and have  amazing rear udders. He should be protected on the  set to his rear legs (curved ), similar to Skychief but with much better bone quality.
  • VAL-BISSON DOORMAN
    (Bookem x Shottle x Goldwyn)
    For those of you who breed for type but are willing to use genomic sires, Doorman is for you.  This Bookem from a Shottle has no great show cattle in his pedigree, but, at +22, he does  have a very high genomic test for conformation. Genomically test speaking, he is the perfect sire for the show ring. Doorman will be a great test to see if Genomics works in the show ring (Read more – Does Genomics Belong in the Show Ring?)

The Bullvine Bottom Line

We  have stated it many times. In maximizing your genetic gain,  you can’t just pick from the top of the TPI or LPI list.  You need to make sure that your  matings are the best corrective cross.  Breeding great cattle is part art  and part science. You need to have both parts.   It takes careful consideration and generation after generation of corrective mating to breed great cow families.  That is why, instead of just giving you a list of the top 12 we tried to provide you with insight into which sires will provide you with the maximum gain in each specific area.

Check out our  Genetic Evaluations Section for more information.

 

Comments (2)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From Fantasy to Reality – Top sires to address herd culling problems

By Murray Hunt · Comments (0)
Thursday, November 15th, 2012

In our recent article, Fact vs. Fantasy – A realistic approach to sire selection, we highlighted the need to choose sires not just on ideal conformation goals, but to also match your sire selection to the key management challenges your herd faces. In typical Bullvine style we wanted to take this one step further and to go from fantasy to reality and identify just what sires will help address these top culling issues.

The Bullvine’s Realistic Approach:  Breed to Minimize Your Profit Thieves

In the previous article, we recommended minimum sire proof levels for total index, female fertility, somatic cell score and feet & legs in both the US and Canadian genetic evaluation systems.  Since we only have access to DGVs from CDN, all values quoted in this article will be in Canadian terms.

Some considerations set for sires to qualify for consideration are worth repeating:

  1. A minimum LPI/TPI value (+2000) was set to address the problem of cows being culled for low   production;
  2. Sires had to be on an active marketing list of a North American AI organization; and
  3. Sires with only genomic evaluations had to have been born in 2011 or, in other words, they are in the initial stages of their sampling time.

Just a reminder of the minimum values The Bullvine set for bulls to be considered.

  • Lifetime Profit Index    > +2000
  • Daughter Fertility       > 100
  • Somatic Cell Score       < 2.90
  • Feet & Legs                 > +5

INFERTILITY: You can’t make milk if you can’t make calves

Breeders know that there is a difference in bulls’ daughters’ ability to become pregnant.  It’s probably one of the most important profit metrics on most herds. This is measured as Daughter Fertility in Canada and Daughter Pregnancy Rate in the USA.  This information has been available for some time, yet it still seems to be given little heed when sires are selected for use in A.I. and herds.

The Bullvine offers the following sires for use by herds wishing to genetically address infertility.

GENOMICALLY EVALUATED SIRES: ranked by DGV Daughter Fertility Index

  • 111      Ever-Green-View FONSY (Super x Shottle)
  • 110      Brant-View ALTAOTIS (Observer x Active)
  • 110      Latuch Trigger TREK (Trigger x Ramos)
  • 109      Rosylane-LLC JOSIAH (Jives x Ramos)
  • 109      Blue-Horizon ALATASUPLEX (Super x Planet)

DAUGHTER PROVEN SIRES: ranked by Daughter Fertility Index

  • 110      Badger-Bluff Fanny FREDDIE (Oman x Die-Hard)
  • 107      Synergy ALTAJENKINS (Mac x Shottle)
  • 107      Mainstream MANIFOLD (Oman x Marshall)
  • 107      Co-op Oman CAVANA (Oman x Hunter)
  • 106      Crackholm FEVER (Goldwyn x Blitz)

MASTITIS – a bane to producing high quality milk

No producer wants mastitis, the cost of loosing a valuable cows, or the possibility of having a tanker load of milk lost due to antibiotics in the load. Additionally milk producers don’t want their vet visit time consumed with mastitis problems. Can mastitis be lowered by using genetic evaluations?  “Yes!” claim many producers who know from experience that the daughters of bulls with an SCS over 3.10 are problems.  Sure, they may be fine in their first lactation but in later lactations they are usually more prone to mastitis.  The Bullvine offers the following sires for use in herds that wish to avoid mastitis, as much as possible:

GENOMICALLY EVALUATED SIRES: ranked by DGV SCS Index

  • 2.22     Coyne-Farms JACY (AltaIota x Massey)
  • 2.32     Welcome ADOLF (Shameless x Ramos)
  • 2.40     Oconnors BAROMETER (Garrett x Shottle)
  • 2.47     De-Su ALTAHALEY (Alta Meteor x Goldwyn)
  • 2.48     Stantons EVEREST (Observer x Shottle)

DAUGHTER PROVEN SIRES:  ranked by SCS Index

  • 2.45     Co-op Bosside MASSEY (Mascol x Bret)
  • 2.54     Lirr Drew DEMPSEY (Goldwyn x Derry)
  • 2.62     Coyne-Farms DORCY (Bolton x Bret)
  • 2.62     Coppertop DOBERMAN (Shottle x Granger)
  • 2.63     Crackholm FEVER (Goldwyn x Blitz)

Feet and Legs – Vital for High Performing Cows

The heritability of feet & legs is low (.20 to .25) but there are significant differences between sires in their ability to sire animals with functional feet and legs, especially feet. The costs mount up when you consider that cows with sore feet do not come in heat. And their feet must be trimmed more often. On top of that they require medication. In the end, there is milk withdrawal and definitely there is a loss of milk production. The Bullvine offers the following sires for use in herds that care about reducing their costs and losses due to feet and leg problems.

GENOMICALLY EVALUATED SIRES: ranked by their DGV Feet & Legs Index

  • +16 Blue-Horizon ALTASUPLEX (Super x Planet) Side View +7, Rear View +10, Foot Angle +7
  • +15 Ronelee Shottbolt DENZEL (Shottbolt x Outside) Rear View +12, Foot Angle +7.
  • +14 Seagull-Bay HEADLINER (Robust x Planet) Rear View +12, Foot Angle +10.
  • +14 De-Su RANSOM (Robust x Ramos) Foot Angle +10, Heel Depth +7. Bone Quality -1.
  • +13 Farnear –TBR- BH CASHMONEY (Observer x Goldwyn) Rear View +10.

DAUGHTER PROVEN SIRES: ranked by Feet & Leg Index

  • +16 Gen-I-Beq BRAWLER (Baxter x Shottle) – Foot Angle +12, Heel Depth +13.
  • +15 Crackholm FEVER (Goldwyn x Blitz) – Bone Quality +10, Rear View +11, Rear Set +13.
  • +14 Lirr Drew DEMPSEY (Goldwyn x Derry) – Foot Angle +11, Heel Depth +8, Rear View +9.
  • +14 DANILLO (Goldwyn x Oman) – Foot Angle +12, Rear View +13.
  • +12 Va-Early-Dawn SUDAN (Jammer x Sailor) – Foot Angle +8, Rear View +13. Rear legs straight.

THE BULLVINE BOTTOM LINE

The sires recommended here are genetically superior for reducing the nagging problems of fertility, mastitis and feet. At the same time, they are superior for their Lifetime Profit Index.  Bulls’ daughters that do not reach their potential due to any or all of these limiting factors are not needed on your farm or in the national herd. Choose the best sires that correct the actual problems that you face and thereby give you the opportunity to increase your profit per cow per year.  This method of selecting sires is not showy like winning in the show ring is but your bottom line on your year-end financial statement will be a larger number. Taking your goal of greater profits from fact to reality.

Looking for more mating recommendations and insights…click here.

Comments (0)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FACT VS. FANTASY: A Realistic Approach to Sire Selection

By Murray Hunt · Comments (6)
Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

How often do you select a mating sire for the reasons you typically cull animals, as opposed to what your perceived ideal cow looks like?  Further to our discussion about what the Perfect Holstein Cow looks like we here at the Bullvine started to ask ourselves, “How often do we choose our matings based on what we think the perfect cow looks like? vs. what our true management needs are?” Far too often sire selection is based on the fantasy of breeding that next great show cow or VG-89-2YR instead of facts needed to breed that low maintenance cow that will stay in your herd for many lactations and produce high quantities of milk.  Do your sire selections overlook your management needs?

Speedy Selection. Long-Lasting Problems

Discernment is the hardest part of sire selection.  Seeing your herd for what it is and what its genetic needs are is step one.  Step two is choosing what will work for you almost three years from now when the daughters of the sires you use today will be entering the milking string.  The old adage was “breed for type and feed for production.”  But how many breeding stock animals have you sold recently based solely on conformation?  How many will you be selling in three years based on their type?  What are the revenue sources for your farm now and in the future?  If your answer is “We get our revenue from the milk cheque from as few cows as possible and with as much profit per cow as possible” then selecting for type could mean that your sire selection is out of alignment with your management needs.

How Can You Tell If You Are You Out of Sync?

One place to determine where your herd has issues is to look at the reasons for and the frequency of culling. Every cow that leaves your herd for any reason other than a profitable sale is an indicator of the issues that could be arising from sire selection that is out of alignment with what is going on in your herd.

The Bullvine found the following information on milking age females that are removed from herds:

  • Over 35% of cows in a herd are replaced annually. That is costly!
  • The top known reasons for culling or removing cows are:
    • Infertility  / reproduction                    23.1%
    • Sold for dairy purposes                       21.4%
    • Mastitis                                               13.8%
    • Feet and Legs                                        9.6%
    • Low production                                     7.6%
    • Total    75.5%
  • The other known reasons for culling or removing cows are:
    • Injury               10.0%
    • Sickness           7.0%
    • Old Age           2.4%
    • Diseases          1.8%
    • Bad Temperament      0.9%
    • Difficult Calving          0.9%
    • Conformation 0.9%
    • Slow Milker                 0.6%
    • Total    24.5%

Are You Breeding to Spend Money or Are you Breeding to Make Money?

You may be comfortable with your culling rate especially if it isn’t too far off “normal”. However when you look closely at the cows that remain in your herd how “needy” are they?  Staff time, vet calls, hoof trimming, semen, drugs, supplies, extra time in the dry cow pen and removing cows from herds before they reach maturity – these all add up to significant dollars down the drain.  Therefore, anything that can be done in sire selection to minimize these costs goes right to improving the financial bottom line.  All unbudgeted costs mean less profit. If an animal is culled early, it does not matter where she placed at the local show or that her sire was a popular bull that left fancy udders.  If he also left poor feet and low fertility, that costs you money.

A More Realistic Approach: Breed for the Bottom Line Not Just the Top Number

Often top bulls for total index are put forward to breeders for their use, without regard for the bull’s limiting factors.  The Bullvine doesn’t support that approach.  We recommendation that minimum sire selection values be set for the reasons cows are culled so that sires used in a herd don’t create new problems while the breeder tries to solve the current ones.

Here are the Bullvine we recommend the following requirements bulls should meet to be considered for use by bottom line focused breeders:

  • In Canada
    • Lifetime Profit Index   > +2000*
    • Daughter Fertility          > 100
    • Somatic Cell Score         < 2.90
    • Feet & Legs                      > +5
  • In USA
    • Total Performance Index        > 2000*
    • Daughter Pregnancy Rate          > 1.0
    • Somatic Cell Score                    < 2.90
    • Feet & Legs Composite               > 1.0

* A high minimum value has been set for both LPI and TPI to address the removal of cows for low production and so animals sold for dairy purposes can be in demand for their milk producing ability.

THE BULLVINE BOTTOM LINE

Every dairy breeder wants a superior herd and wants to eliminate the daily annoyances, costs and loss of valuable cows due to infertility, mastitis and feet problems and low production. Breeders should choose the best sires that correct the actual problems that they face in their herd instead of chasing a fantasy that has nothing to do with their reality.

The Dairy Breeders No BS Guide to Genomics

 

Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?

Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?

Download this free guide.

 

 

 

Comments (6)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

GOING OFF THE MAP: 14 Outcross Holstein Sires That Don’t Include GPS

By Andrew Hunt · Comments (6)
Monday, October 22nd, 2012

With the increased genetic similarity coming from genomic selection and the accelerated rate of genetic advancement, the need to pay attention to outcross sires is important. Never before has it been so difficult to find outcross sires, even though there is a much larger global marketplace. As the world genetics market has grown, the variance in genetic offerings has actually decreased. In most countries genetic indexes are either getting more and more similar or breeders are starting to speak a more common language such as TPI or Net Merit.

As a follow up to our The Top 12 Holstein Genomic Young Sires to Use for Maximum Genetic Gain, we decided to look for outcross sires either proven or genomic test sires that would offer breeders the maximum genetic gain while providing needed diversity. The word outcross or what constitutes an outcross sire can be tricky depending on where you are located. For our purposes, we are calling an outcross sire something that comes off the GPS map, or the Goldwyn, Planet, and Shottle map, if you will. That means that they do not have any of these three great sires anywhere in the 1st or 2nd generation of their pedigree.

Please note that we did leave Man-O-Man and his sons in our list because we felt that in relation to the total population base he received limited use due to his limited semen supply. He was used fairly heavily for contract matings but has only 393 daughters in his production proof and 190 daughters in his type proof in the USA

Overall Performance Improvement

While there is no question Man-O-Man offers outstanding overall genetic gain in a relative outcross package, here are some other sires to consider when looking for overall performance improvement:

  • LEOTHE DEXTERMAN (Man-O-Man x AltaBaxter)
    If you cannot get Man-O-Man, why not go for what is arguably his best son, LEOTHE DEXTERMAN? DEXTERMAN offers outstanding component improvement, though he should not be expected to significantly improve overall production. Not surprising considering his dam LEOTHE BAXTER DAPHNEE VG-86-2YR-CAN just squeezed out 10,799 kgs in a 365-day record. DEXTERMAN’s maternal line shows generation after generation of solid conformation with average production. Look for DEXTERMAN to offer solid durability and health traits with balanced conformation. DEXTERMAN will fit the bill when looking for extreme component improvement. Look for him to breed much as his maternal line strong conformation, outstanding components, but needs protected on overall production.
  • MOUNTFIELD MSY MAURICE (Massey x Boliver)
    If you are looking for more of an outcross or have used lots of Man-O-Man try MOUNTFIELD MSY MAURICE. MAURICE and his Dorcy brother MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL offer a great outcross option. MAURICE has high TPI, NM$ and Type scores making him a great option for overall performance. Though based on his genomic numbers you will need to protect him on dairy strength and a little on rumps.
  • CO-OP BOSSIDE MASSEY (Mascol x Bret)
    If you are looking for a proven sire option, you cannot go wrong with CO-OP BOSSIDE MASSEY. The current #1 daughter proven sire in the US, MASSEY breeds long-lasting cows that work well in all environments. Watch for MASSEY to sire even better production numbers than his proof would indicate, as well as being a little dairier and stronger than expected, but he will need to be protected on Rumps.
  • ZANI BOLTON MASCALESE (Bolton x O man)
    For those looking for a bloodline not as well known to North American breeders, try ZANI BOLTON MASCALESE. With a dam that has a MACE index of over +4000 MLPI, it can be new territory for many breeders to use a MACE sire that is so high. Concerns that his proof is all parent average and genomics are not unusual. However, when it comes to MASACLESE. his daughters are actually backing up what his family and genomics would indicate. His young sire proof estimates (65% Genomics and 35% Parent Average) would be +3019 MLPI and his MACE proof has him at+ 2972, telling you that, while his daughters are slightly lower, they are not far off. Look for MASCALESE to transmit outstanding balance and type though do be careful on his component percentages.

Production Improvement

For those of you that are more commercially focused or maybe those of you who have not focused enough on production and the milk check is showing it, here are our recommendations other than Man-O-Man for overall production, and genomic sires MAURICE & DEXTERMAN for components to use to gain the greatest production increase:

  • DE-SU ALTAGOALMAN (Bolton x O man)
    ALTAGOALMAN is a proven sire from the high Genomic Index De-Su herd. With a PA MLPI of +1960 and DGV MLPI of +2710, ALTAGOALMAN’s official proof MLPI is +2887, indicating that his daughters are significantly outperforming PA expectations for both type and production traits. Though ALTAGOALMAN will sire outstanding production both his genomic proof and his daughter information would indicate that he needs to be protected on dairy strength.
  • UFM-DUBS ALTAESQUIRE (O man x AltaSam)
    Another proven sires option is ALTAESQUIRE. ALTAESQUIRE’s 2nd crop daughters seem to be outperforming his first crop proof. Watch for ALTAESQUIRE to sire more production, components as well as better mammary systems than his current proof would indicate. Currently ALTAESQUIRE’s proof is held back significantly by his low parent average MLPI of +1763, that is 1171 points lower than his current official MLPI proof of +2934. With the addition of more daughters watch for his official CDN proof to have him among the top 2-3 LPI spots. While offering dairy strength and rump improvement ALTAESQUIRE needs to be used cautiously on mammary systems and feet and legs, but if you are looking to put a production punch in a good uddered and legged cow/heifer ALTAESQUIRE will do the trick.

Longevity Improvement

For those of you that are looking to breed cattle that last lactation after lactation or maybe you are having problems with your 2 year olds not coming back for a 2nd lactation we recommend the following outcross sires:

  • RONELEE DORCY DELIGENT (Dorcy x Boliver)
    RONELEE DORCY DELIGENT just spells longevity (Dorcy x Boliver x Outside x Rudolph), he was bred to deliver long lasting daughters. With outstanding Herd Life/Productive Life, breed leading mammary systems scores and strong Feet and Legs scores, DELIGENT is a longevity specialist, though he does need to be somewhat protected for dairy strength. Look for DELIGENT to combine this longevity with strong production and type numbers.
  • MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL (Dorcy x Marsh)
    From the same family as MOUNTFIELD MSY MAURICE comes the Dorcy son MOGUL. Much like MAURICE, MOGUL combines high TPI, NM$ and Type scores as well as breed leading longevity scores. With a PL +7.1, +3.29 UDC. +3.13 FLC, +1.22BD and +1.62 Dairyness, MOGUL really is the complete longevity package. Combine that with over +1,000 lbs. of milk and plus components and MOGUL daughters will be producing for many years.
  • COYNE-FARMS DORCY (Bolton x Bret)
    Well if you don’t want to use genomic young sires, you can always use the sire that is producing those sons, COYNE-FARMS DORCY. While DORCY’s actual daughter numbers are slightly below his Genomic and Parent averages (Read – The Effect Genomics has On the August 2012 New Release Daughter Proven Sires) he is proving to be an outstanding longevity improvement sire, both through his sons and daughters. Breeders interested in a Bolton son from an outcross pedigree, top-notch udders, very good feet & legs and functional traits may consider DORCY. Dairy Strength and Rump are only slightly above breed norms.
  • BERTAIOLA MINCIO (Bolton x Boss Iron)
    For breeders looking to go a little further off the GPS map, there is BERTAIOLA MINCIO. This high fertility Bolton son combines high type with great production, which is resulting in outstanding results in his current daughter performance. Watch for MINICO to sire great udders and feet & legs though you may want to watch him on somatic cell score.

Health and Fertility Improvement

One area that is not getting enough attention by most breeders is health and fertility. While there is no question that every breeder knows that more pregnancies equals more profits many of the top ranking sires especially the GPS sires actually have negative values for health and fertility. The following are a couple of specialist sires that should help you change that:

  • ALL-RIEHL PAXTON (O Man x Rudolph)
    While ALL-RIEHL PAXTON has a little older sire stack, he does possess the highest combined values for Somatic Cell Score, Udder Depth, Milking Speed, Daughter Fertility and Lactation Persistency. PAXTON daughters are shallow uddered with strong rear attachments and walk on strong feet and legs. While not big, or deep bodied they do possess good width of chest and nice slopey rumps. For those looking for show type and angularity, PAXTON is not the sire for you, but for those looking for easy to manage daughters that have long term profitability PAXTON will do the trick.
  • S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM (Domain x Bolton)
    S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM has some of the highest DGV’s for health and fertility. Lithium is from one of the top genomic cows in the breed, GLEN-TOCTIN BOLT LUCILLE VG-87-DOM. Combining high herd life, low Somatic Cell counts and high daughter fertility with over 1600 lbs. of milk, 110 of fat and protein and 2.5 points on type makes Lithium a great choice when looking for improvement. It is interesting to note that his DGV’s for health and fertility are almost 8% higher than the next highest genomic young sire (BRANDT-VIEW ALTAOTIS) and 50% higher than his own official index, indicating that he really is the sire to use when wanting to address this area that has flown under the radar far too long.

Type Improvement

Finding a top type sire that has no Goldwyn in it’s pedigree is next to impossible (Read – 7 Sire to Use in Order to Breed the Next World Dairy Expo Champion). Finding ones with no Planet or Shottle as well was almost ridiculous. In addition to MOGUL and MINICO, you could also consider:

  • SIEMERS TOYS HERO 9701 (Toystory x Durham)
    While HERO’s pedigree does not have some of the big time show cow’s like many of the other popular type sires in the breed today, he does have strong genomic test results for Conformation, and specifically udders. Look for HERO to sire extremely shallow udders that have strong ligaments though he could be protected a little on teat placement. While larger than average, HERO will not sire your big tall show winners with the deep ribs, instead he offers wide rumps that have slightly high pins and average chest width. He really is an udder specialist with average legs and dairy strength.
  • TOC-FARM DUPLEX GLAUCO (Duplex x Allen)
    For those looking for a more well-known pedigree there is TOC-FARM DUPLEX GLAUCO. His dam, TOC-FARM ALLEN AMYLY EX-96-ITA, was All World Cow in 2008. She herself is from the great breeding cow, SUNNYLODGE SKYCHIEF AMY EX-95-2E-GBR 5*. Look for GLAUCO to sire tall deep-bodied cows with wide chests and strong udders. His big boxcar rumps will catch many breeders’ eyes, though you may want to protect him on rump angle a little.

 The Bullvine Bottom Line

Choosing the correct sire can be challenging enough. Finding a sire that also offers an outcross from the main GPS (Goldwyn, Planet, Shottle) sires can be almost impossible. That is why we compiled these 14 sires to bring to light some outcross pedigrees that many breeders may not have heard of. Hope this helps you find your way to your best outcross bull.


The Dairy Breeders No BS Guide to Genomics

 

Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?

Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?

Download this free guide.

 

 

 

Comments (6)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

7 Sires to Use in Order to Breed the Next World Dairy Expo Champion

By Andrew Hunt · Comments (17)
Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

Everyone loves winning.  No one enters a competition to finish last.  Regardless of who you are every purebred dairy breeder dreams of winning supreme champion at World Dairy Expo.  Your dream of walking in the spotlight, on the colored shavings, with everyone applauding you, starts with choosing the right sires.

Logic would tell you that you take top 10 PTAT sires or Conformation sires and away you go.  However, we all know what wins in the barn does not win in the ring.  That is because the relative importance/weights are different in each area of the Dairy Cow Scorecard.  Therefore, instead of your typical classification weightings that make up the basis of PTAT and Conformation indexes (Udder 40%, Dairy Strength 25%, Feet & Legs 20% and Frame 15%) we decided to place more emphasis on traits that make a difference in the show ring to come up with our short list of sires to use (Udder 35%, Feet & Legs 13%, Stature 13, Strength 13%, Body Depth 14%, Dairy Form 13%). For those of you who think great show cows don’t produce as well we recommend you read Show Cows: All Type and No Action)

We then went to Genomics.  Yes genomics for show cattle.  Many confuse the word genomics and TPI or LPI index when actually genomics is just a more accurate and earlier-in-life method of evaluating or predicting a sire’s ability to transmit improvement for that specific trait or composite.  Therefore, it can actually be a huge tool for breeder who is looking to breed great show cattle.  In the case of young sires, we were also careful to make sure we did not use sires with type genomic traits lower than their parent averages, as our previous analysis showed us (Read – 7 Reasons Why You Wouldn’t Use Sires with DGV’s Lower Than Their Parent Averages).

Let`s get a better understanding of  what sires will help you win that elusive prize of breeding the next great show cow.  The following are the lucky seven sires we would recommend in order to breed the next supreme champion.  Having said that, we admit that all great breeding is two parts homework, one part intuition, and three parts luck.  Let`s start with the homework.

#7 – MAPLE-DOWNS-I G W ATWOOD

MD-DELIGHT DURHAM ATLEE EX-92-4YR-USA DOM GMD 2* - dam of Atwood

MD-DELIGHT DURHAM ATLEE EX-92-4YR-USA DOM GMD 2* – dam of Atwood

It’s no fluke that MAPLE-DOWNS-I G W ATWOOD EX-90-4YR-USA is probably the next generation of great show bulls available today.  Combining  Goldwyn on Durham would normally be enough but added to that his dam is the exceptional MD-DELIGHT DURHAM ATLEE EX-92-4YR-USA DOM GMD 2*.  Atlee also has extreme conformation herself, winning reserve Intermediate Champion at Madison in 2005, and going to be named unanimous ALL-AMERICAN SR.3-YR that year.  She comes by it naturally with her grand dam being MS Kingstead Chief Adeen EX-94 (the full sister to the recently deceased World Champion Shoremar S Alicia EX-97).  Combine that with the greatest type sire of the past half-decade and you have yourself an unbeatable show-winning package.  Atwood offers the great mammary systems his pedigree would indicate but needs to be protected for flat loins and high pins, much like his sire.

#6 – PINE-SHELTER CLAY WOOD

PINE-SHELTER CHELSY SHO VG-86-2YR-USA DOM - dam of Wood

PINE-SHELTER CHELSY SHO VG-86-2YR-USA DOM – dam of Wood

If you don’t want to use Atwood himself, how about one of his sons?  Possessing the highest values of all the bulls on our list for stature (5.09), PINE-SHELTER CLAY WOOD will give you that punch of stature needed for show cows.  Not surprisingly since his third dam is none other than 2003 World Dairy Expo Champion, PINE-SHELTER CHEYENNE EX-95-3E-USA DOM. Expect Wood to sire a very balanced cow that needs to be used on cows that have deep ribs and deep heals.  He will give you those big wide rear udders that can do wonders when the judge is standing behind you making those critical decisions.

#5 – GIBBS-I CLAYNOOK DUDE

SONNEK BLT DOUBLE DIPPED VG-85-2YR-CAN - dam of Dude

SONNEK BLT DOUBLE DIPPED VG-85-2YR-CAN – dam of Dude

Possessing the highest genomic values for most conformation traits is GIBBS-I CLAYNOOK DUDE VG-87-1YR-CAN.  (Not to be confused with the Facebook sensation He is One Ugly Dude)  This Atwood son from SONNEK BLT DOUBLE DIPPED VG-85-2YR-CAN has unbelievable genomic values for all major conformation traits, well above his expected parent averages.  This is opposite to the situation for most recently proven Claynook bred bulls, whose PAs exceed their genomic values and whose indexes dropped in a major way from when they were sampled to when they were proven.  (Read – The Hot House Effect On Sire Sampling).  Dude has the genomic values to back it up.  Expect Dude to sire breed leading mammary system improvement and loads of dairy strength, though he will need to be protected on high pins.

#4 – REGANCREST-GV S BRADNICK

REGANCREST BREYA VG-88-3YR-USA DOM 1* - dam of Bradnick

REGANCREST BREYA VG-88-3YR-USA DOM 1* – dam of Bradnick

For those of you who want a sire other than Atwood and Atwood sons, I offer up the next two selections.  In REGANCREST-GV S BRADNICK VG-87-2YR-USA you have no Goldwyn blood at all.  From the REGANCREST-PR BARBIE EX-92-7YR-USA DOM GMD 3* (2012 Golden Dam Finalist) family, by way of a VG-88-3YR-USA DOM 1* Shottle daughter REGANCREST BREYA, and sired by GEN-MARK STMATIC SANCHEZ EX-94-6YR-USA ST’12.  Breya is the former #3 PTAT Cow in the breed and continues the strong legacy that Barbie started.  In Bradnick you get a sire who is over 3 points on all composites except Dairy Comp where he is at 2.92.  In every major type trait Bradnick’s DGV’s are higher than expected from his parents.

#3 – SCIENTIFIC B DEFIANT

SCIENTIFIC GOLD DIOR RAE-ET *RC EX-92-4YR-USA DOM - dam of Defiant

SCIENTIFIC GOLD DIOR RAE-ET *RC EX-92-4YR-USA DOM – dam of Defiant

As the  REGANCREST S BRAXTON EX-95-5YR-USA son of the #4 GTPI RC cow, SCIENTIFIC GOLD DIOR RAE-ET *RC EX-92-4YR-USA DOM, SCIENTIFIC B DEFIANT is doubly blessed as his is also a red carrier.  Of course Dior Rae is from none other the great show winning SCIENTIFIC DEBUTANTE RAE-ET  EX-92-4YR-USA DOM GMD 2*, tracing back to the Queen of the Breed herself GLENRIDGE CITATION ROXY EX-CAN EX-97-4E-USA GMD 6*.  In Defiant you get a sire stack of Braxton from a Goldwyn from Durham that just drips dairy strength.  Expect Defiant to sire extremely tall framey cows that have strong, snug, shallow udders.  However, you may want to protect him on the cleanliness of bone as well as slight curved legs.

#2 – CANYON-BREEZE AT AIRLIFT

CANYON-BREEZE S AUBURN EX-90 - dam of Airlift

CANYON-BREEZE S AUBURN EX-90 – dam of Airlift

Coming in at #2 is another Atwood son CANYON-BREEZE AT AIRLIFT.  While the female side of this cow family may not have won any major shows, they do have generation after generation of outstanding strength, frames and feet and legs, tracing back to the same bloodlines as the great CANYON-BREEZE ALLEN.  Combine that with Atwood’s udders and you have the potential for greatness.  Expect Airlift to sire extreme feet and leg improvement as well as rumps.  For the line breeding fans out there, Airlift would make a great cross with your Goldwyn’s.  Bringing the needed rump and dairy strength improvement many Goldwyn’s need.  However, much like Allen, you may not want to use him on cattle that are extremely straight legged.  Airlift also makes a great option for those looking to sire show-winning calves as Airlift is almost over 4 points on all major type traits outside of mammary system.

#1 – MR ATWOOD BROKAW

REGANCREST MAC BIKASA VG-87-2YR-USA - dam of Brokaw

REGANCREST MAC BIKASA VG-87-2YR-USA – dam of Brokaw

Leading the way, but surely not a surprise, is MR ATWOOD BROKAW.  In Brokaw you combine the two greatest type families in the breed today.  On the paternal  side you have Atwood and his dam MD-DELIGHT DURHAM ATLEE EX-92-4YR-USA DOM GMD 2*, 2012 Golden Dam finalist and Reserve Intermediate Champion at Madison in 2005 followed by her grand dam being MS Kingstead Chief Adeen EX-94.  On the maternal side you have REGANCREST MAC BIKASA VG-87-2YR-USA who is the daughter of REGANCREST-PR BARBIE EX-92-7YR-USA DOM GMD 3*, also a 2012 Golden Dam Finalist.  Watch for Brokaw to be extremely tall (4.85 Stature) and have the necessary frame (3.89 Body Comp), dairyness (3.06 Dairy Comp) and bolted on udders (3.77 Udder Comp) to get the job done.  While his rumps may not be ideal for classification, expect them to be bang on when it comes to the show ring, demonstrating the necessary width and boxcar rumps that judges love so much.

Side Note on Goldwyn

For those of you wondering how we could leave probably the most dominant show sire of the past decade BRAEDALE GOLDWYN GP-84-8YR-CAN EXTRA’05 GM’12 off of the list.  Here is our explanation.  While there is no question that Goldwyn is a great sire, and a fantastic type improvement sire, we argue that part of his success came through opportunity as much as through genetic ability.  Since Goldwyn was used on so many cattle including the top type cattle in the breed, because of his outstanding proof, he had far more opportunity than most other sires to leave his mark.  While he has not disappointed, his sons, such as Atwood and his grandsons as in Defiant, have now surpassed him.

The Bottom Line

The truth is everyone loves a winner.  That`s the simple truth.  Ask yourself, “How many times have you seen a packed house to hear the naming of the top new TPI or LPI sire?”  This is not to say that you can’t strive for both.  (Read – Show Cows: All Type and No Action?)  Nevertheless, everyone would love to breed the next great show cow.  That starts with using the correct sires.  In then means using the bloodlines that have proven they have done it before.  We have chosen Brokaw as the greatest sire for show type improvement.  Of course, as is the case with all mating decisions, you need to make sure the sire you choose crosses well and is a corrective mating with the cow you are breeding.

For those of you looking for a more balanced breeding approach, check out The Top 12 Holstein Young Sires to Use for Maximum Genetic Gain.

 

Comments (17)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Top 12 Holstein Genomic Young Sires To Use for Maximum Genetic Gain

By Andrew Hunt · Comments (2)
Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

Confused on what group of genomic young sires to use for your breeding program?  Not sure which sires are the real deals and which ones are just smoke and mirrors (read The Hot House Effect on Sire Sampling)?  We decided to take a closer look at the top 100 genomic young sires from around the world to determine just which ones are worth using and which ones you are better forgetting.

Based on our analysis of the early genomic sires that  received indexes, we first removed all sires from our list that didn’t have DGV’s available or higher than their parent average for the traits we judge as important (read 7 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Genomic Sires With DGV’s Lower Than Their Parent Averages).  Then instead of just giving you the highest list based on their GPA TPI or GPA LPI we decided to look for sires that fit certain needs.  They are overall performers, production, durability, health and fertility and conformation.  The following are the results.

Overall Performance Improvement

AMMON-PEACHEY SHAUNA VG-87-2YR-USA dam of SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE

AMMON-PEACHEY SHAUNA VG-87-2YR-USA dam of SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE

While bulls like Amighetti Numero Uno may top the GPA TPI list, we are looking for a more needs approach.  The following are the sires we would recommend when looking for a genomic young sire to provide overall performance improvement.

  • SEAGULL-BAY SUPERSIRE
    This Robust son from 2012 Golden Dam Finalist AMMON-PEACHEY SHAUNA VG-87-2YR-USA, really is a genomic wonder.  Not only does he have the highest genomic values in the breed for production but he also has great functional type and health traits to go with it.  Here you have a sire that is over 2500 lbs. for milk, with positive component deviations, 2.50 for type, and over 7 for productive life.  He really is the complete package.
  • VELTHUIS LET IT SNOW
    From the LYLEHAVEN LILA Z EX-94-CAN 14* (also a 2012 Golden Dam Finalist) family comes, the CDN GPA LPI topper VELTHUIS LET IT SNOW.  While possessing 500 lbs. less production and half the productive life of that of Supersire, this Snowman son has outstanding type composites and the genomic test to make up the difference for those of you that do not want to sacrifice overall type.  I would protect Let It Snow on the health and fertility side a little.
  • ROSYLANE-LLC ALTALEO
    I am always looking for sires whose genomic tests blow out their expected values, and ROSYLANE-LLC ALTALEO does that by almost 19%.  AltaLeo does not top any  GPA TPI or GPA LPI lists, but he does seem to far exceed the values you would expect from an AltaMeteor from a not very well known Nifty (Bombay x Zebo) daughter.  For those of you who like to take flyers on bulls who just seem to be extreme, AltaLeo is the sire for you.  While he does need to be protected on rump and dairy strength, for those that are willing to take the risk, they may find the reward is well worth it.

Production Improvement

MS CHARTROISE LORELEI VG-87-2YR-CAN dam of BOLDI V LIGHTSNOW

MS CHARTROISE LORELEI VG-87-2YR-CAN dam of BOLDI V LIGHTSNOW

For those of you that are more commercially focused or maybe those of you who have not focused enough on production and the milk check is showing it, here are our recommendations other than Supersire for genomic young sires to use to gain the greatest production increase:

  • DE-SU PHOENIX 588
    PHOENIX is a Planet from DE-SU 7902 GP-81-2YR-USA DOM, whose dam De-Su Oman 6121 VG-86-2YR-USA DOM GMD has over 20 daughters on the locator list and is the dam of De-Su Observer, one of the early top genomic sires.  Phoenix combines outstanding production and components with strong conformation.  Though a Planet x Bolton cross may raise some concerns about rumps, Phoenix should inherit his maternal line’s rumps and be okay.  The area of strong concern that he does need protected on is his health and fertility traits, specifically his daughter fertility and milking speed.
  • BOLDI V LIGHTSNOW
    Lightsnow also from the LYLEHAVEN LILA Z EX-94-CAN 14* family is a Snowman from the well-known Planet daughter MS CHARTROISE LORELEI VG-87-2YR-CAN.  Lightsnow offers 160 lbs. of combined fat and protein, offering breeders a quick punch of components while not having to sacrifice production.  While needing to be protected a little on some of the health and fertility traits, Lightsnow offers outstanding production improvement with a very balanced type offering.

Longevity Improvement

MS CHASSITY GOLDWYN CASH VG-87-2YR-CAN dam of FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHMONEY

MS CHASSITY GOLDWYN CASH VG-87-2YR-CAN dam of FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHMONEY

For those of you that are looking to breed cattle that last lactation after lactation or maybe you have having problems with your 2 year olds not coming back for a 2nd lactation we recommend the genomic young sires:

  • BLUE-HORIZON ALTASUPLEX
    As the #2 sire for productive life (NO-FLA AltaSecure is #1) BLUE-HORIZON ALTASUPLEX offers significant longevity improvement.  Unlike AltaSecure this Super son combines that high productive life with over 1400lbs of milk, and 3.00 points on type.  While he does need to be protected %F, dairy strength and rumps, AltaSuplex offers extreme functional conformation improvement that you would expect from a great grandson of BUDJON-JK ENCORE ELECTRA EX-95-2E-USA DOM GMD 3*.
  • VAL-BISSON DOORMAN
    Following closely behind AltaSuplex for #2 on the top genomic longevity list is Doorman, a Bookem from a Shottle that completes 8 generations of VG+ with 31*.  Doorman offers a more complete package with not needing protected on much as he is over 1300 kgs of Milk, plus on both his component deviations, and double digits for all major type traits.  In fact his DGV for conformation and mammary system are among the very best in the breed at +22.  While the family may not be a household name yet,  Doorman could be the sire that changes that as he even converts well onto the US system with a GTPI of +2465, PTAT +4.72 and almost a 1000 lbs of Milk and over 100 lbs of combined fat and protein.
  • FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHMONEY
    There hasn’t been a  better  brood cow for type and longevity recently  than 2012 Golden Dam Finalist REGANCREST-PR BARBIE EX-92-7YR-USA DOM GMD 3*.  Now this trend continues with her grand daughter, and fellow 2012 Golden Dam Finalist REGANCREST S CHASSITY EX-92-4YR-USA DOM, and also Chassity’s Goldwyn daughter, and Cashmoney’s dam MS CHASSITY GOLDWYN CASH VG-87-2YR-CAN.  Not only does Cashmoney have an extremely well known female side to his pedigree, his sire stack is nothing to laugh at either.  He combines OBSERVER x GOLDWYN x SHOTTLE x CHAMPION x DURHAM, and from a longevity standpoint he’s the best there is on the list.  Cashmoney really is the real deal though I would protect him on strength and rumps.

Health and Fertility Improvement

One area that is not getting enough attention by most breeders is health and fertility. While there is no question that every breeder knows that more pregnancies equals more profits many of the top ranking sires actually have negative values for health and fertility.  The following are a couple of specialist sires that should help you change that:

  • S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM
    Possessing no Planet, Shottle or Goldwyn in his pedigree S-S-I DOMAIN LITHIUM has some of the highest DGV’s for health and fertility.  Lithium is from one of the top genomic cows in the breed, GLEN-TOCTIN BOLT LUCILLE VG-87-DOM.  Combining high herd life, low Somatic Cell counts and high daughter fertility with over 1600 lbs of milk, 110 of fat and protein and 2.5 points on type makes Lithium a great choice when looking for improvement.  It is interesting to note that his DGV’s for health and fertility are almost 8% higher than the next highest sire (BRANDT-VIEW ALTAOTIS) and 50% higher than his own official index, indicating that he really is the sire to use when wanting to address this area that has flown under the radar far too long.
  • HAMMER-CREEK FRED KRUNCH
    With his low Somatic Cell Score (2.72), strong udders (2.54 Udder comp.), quick milking speed (106), and high daughter fertility (110 CDN 2 US) Krunch is a breed leader when it comes to health and fertility. Tracing back to WA-DEL RC BLCKSTR MARTHA EX-93-2E-USA GMD DOM 2* combines his strong female lineage with outstanding health and fertility sire stack Freddie x Goldwyn x Zade x Mtoto x Formation x Blackstar.  Though he very much needs to be protected for strength and rumps.

Type Improvement

REGANCREST MAC BIKASA VG-87-2YR-USA dam of MR ATWOOD BROKAW

REGANCREST MAC BIKASA VG-87-2YR-USA dam of MR ATWOOD BROKAW

There is no question that some of us put too much emphasis on type improvement when it comes to selecting bulls, especially when many type traits have such low heritability (read Is Your Breeding Strategy A “Field of Dreams”?).  The following sires in addition to Let It Snow and Doorman, will offer you the potential to breed a great show animal.

  • MR ATWOOD BROKAW
    Tied with Doorman for some of the highest type genomics in the breed is MR ATWOOD BROKAW.  Which should come as no surprise as in Brokaw you combine the two greatest type families in the breed today.  On the paternal  side you have Atwood and his dam MD-DELIGHT DURHAM ATLEE EX-92-4YR-USA DOM GMD 2*, 2012 Golden Dam finalist and reserve Int. Champion at Madison in 2005 followed by her grand dam being MS Kingstead Chief Adeen EX-94.  On the maternal side you have REGANCREST MAC BIKASA VG-87-2YR-USA who is the daughter of REGANCREST-PR BARBIE EX-92-7YR-USA DOM GMD 3*, also a 2012 Golden Dam Finalist.  Watch for Brokaw to sire extreme udders and dairy strength, but will need to be protected on rumps from time to time.
  • REGANCREST-GV S BRADNICK
    Also from the of REGANCREST-PR BARBIE EX-92-7YR-USA DOM GMD 3* family, but this time from a VG-88-3YR-USA DOM   1* Shottle daughter REGANCREST BREYA, and sired by GEN-MARK STMATIC SANCHEZ EX-94-6YR-USA ST’12 comes Bradnick.  Breya is the former #3 PTAT Cow in the breed and continues the strong legacy that Barbie started.  In Bradnick you get a sire who is over 3 points on all composites except dairy comp. where he is at 2.92.  In every major type trait Bradnick’s DGV’s are higher than expected and offers more balance than Brokaw who does need to be protected on Rumps.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Anyone can just pick a sire from a top of the GPA TPI or GPA LPI list and call themselves breeders.  But there is more to it than that. Breeding great cattle is part art form part science and you need to have both parts in balance.  It takes careful consideration generation after generation of corrective mating to breed great cow families.  That is why instead of just giving you a list of the top 10 we tried to provide you the insight into which sires will provide you the maximum gain in each specific area.


The Dairy Breeders No BS Guide to Genomics

 

Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?

Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?

Download this free guide.

 

 

 

Comments (2)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , , ,

Twenty Things Every Dairy Breeder Should Know About Inbreeding

By Karen Hunt · Comments (1)
Thursday, June 7th, 2012

When it works it’s called line breeding, when it doesn’t it could be a disaster. Here are 20 things every dairy breeder should know about inbreeding.

How does it happen?

1. Inbreeding results from the mating of related individuals.

2. Relationships between dairy animals are increasing over time because of selection toward similar breeding objectives.

Five possible reasons you can tell yourself not to be concerned about inbreeding

3. Outstanding bulls should be used if the benefits of genetic improvement exceed losses from any possible inbreeding depression

4. Inbreeding has played a role in development and improvement of specialized strains of livestock.

5. The positive aspect of inbreeding is that the genotypes of sperm or egg cells from inbred individuals are more predictable than for outbreds.

6. If the inbred animal were superior and transmitted its superiority with regularity, the advantages would be obvious.

7. Inbreeding can also be used to “purge” a line of cattle of undesirable recessive genes.

Ten realistic reasons to be concerned about inbreeding

8. Inbreeding is expensive. For cows that survive to freshen the first time, each 1% increase in inbreeding reduces lifetime net income by $22 to $24.

9. There is no magic level of inbreeding that is acceptable. Effects of inbreeding on performance of commercial dairy cattle are almost entirely negative.

10. Inbreeding decreases performance. Inbreeding decreases cow survival, single lactation production and reproductive performance.

11. Inbreeding increases negative factors. Inbreeding increases calf mortality, increases age at puberty through retarded growth, and increases rate of disposal or loss of replacement heifers prior to first calving.

12. Inbreeding should be managed in herd breeding programs rather than avoided.

13. Inbreeding in offspring differs for each sire-dam combination, making mate assignments important if inbreeding is to be managed properly.

14. Blanket recommendations of a bull as an “outcross” to groups of cows may not be effective in reducing the impact of inbreeding.

15. The development of large, specialized dairies in North America in recent years has been accompanied by decreased emphasis on individual animal identification.

16. Many large herd managers have questioned the benefits of individual cow ID to their operation. Avoidance of inbreeding losses is one such benefit.

17. When undesirable recessive genes appear in the homozygous state (bb), the condition is often fatal.

Two Thoughts to Take Away

18. Optimum methods to control inbreeding will choose the sire with highest genetic merit adjusted for inbreeding in a specific mating rather than avoiding some maximum level in inbreeding.

19. Complete, accurate pedigree data for cows to be mated and sires used as mates will be a necessary part of such mating decisions.

 THE BULLVINE BOTTOM LINE

20. Losses due to inbreeding can be minimized through careful attention to accurate records. If we can’t estimate inbreeding in a mating because of limited pedigree data, we cannot avoid inbreeding or estimate its costs.

For more information check out The Bullvine Bull Book or our Genetic Evaluation Resource Center.

 

Comments (1)
Categories : Mating Recomendations

Is Your Breeding Strategy A “Field of Dreams”?

By Andrew Hunt · Comments (2)
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

I can tell you the number of times I have seen top breeders spend hours upon hours deciding who to mate their top cattle.  While I understand the importance of this decision, often times I find that the final decision is based on traits that are so low in heritability the chance of actually improving the cow for that trait is extremely low.  As a result, the mating they were hoping to give them that next great one, turns out to be a field of dreams.

What is Heritability?

Heritability is a measure of the degree (0 to 100%) to which offspring resemble their parents for a specific trait. This definition can be extended to all genetic relationships such as half sisters sired by the same bull. Heritability measures the strength of the relationship between performance (phenotype) and breeding value (genotype) of an individual animal. Recall that “heritability” applies to a specific trait measured in a specific population of animals at a specific point in time. If the same trait is measured in a slightly different way in some other group of animals, the estimate of heritability can be expected to be different.

Why Should You Care About Heritability?

Heritability tells you the breeder how much confidence to place in the phenotypic performance of an animal when choosing parents of the next generation. For highly heritable traits where heritability exceeds 0.35, the animal’s phenotype is a good indicator of genetic merit or breeding value. For lowly heritable traits, where heritability is below 0.15, an animal’s performance is much less useful in identifying the individuals with the best genes for the trait.

This is where the problem lies.  The following is a breakdown of High vs Low heritability traits.

High Medium Low
Milk Yield (0.43) Fat Yield (0.34) Herd Life (0.10)
Protein Yield (40) Somatic Cell Score (0.27) Calving Ability (0.6)
Fat Percentage (est. 0.50) Milking Speed (0.21) Daughter Calving Ability (0.6)
Protein Percentage (est. 0.50) Conformation (0.26) Milking Temperament (0.13)
Lactation Persistency (0.40) Rump (0.23) Daughter Fertility (0.7)
Dairy Strength (0.36) Mammary System (0.25) Feet & Legs (0.15)

What Should You Do About Traits With Low Heritabilities?

Heritability can tell us how closely genetic merit follows phenotypic performance, but it tells us nothing about the economic value of better performance. Some traits with low heritabilities, such as the survival and fitness have low heritabilities but high economic value. Other traits, like stature, are moderately to highly heritable, but have insufficient economic value to be given much emphasis in selection programs. Low heritable traits of substantial economic value should always be targeted for improvement through better environmental conditions. This often has the most direct impact and often can be done much quicker than through breeding programs.

The dairy industry is increasingly interested in genetic improvement of health, fitness, survival, and reproductive traits. Milk production is more heritable than these traits, and genetic gains in milk production for the last 30 years have been substantial. Perhaps part of the reason for increased emphasis on equally valuable traits of lower heritability has been the genetic progress made in milk production. Many farmers feel that their cows have more genetic ability to produce than can be utilized efficiently on many dairy farms. The relative economic value of the fitness traits and milk production appears to have changed and selection objectives will change as well.

What is the Heritability of Type Traits?

As the follow table shows.  Trying to improve feet and legs is often better served through management than breeding, while stature and body depth would show a more rapid genetic gain.

Stature 0.42
Strength 0.31
Body Depth 0.37
Dairy Form 0.29
Rump Angle 0.33
Thurl Width 0.26
Rear Legs Side View 0.11
Foot Angle 0.15
Feet and Leg Score 0.17
Fore Udder Attachment 0.29
Rear Udder Height 0.28
Udder Cleft 0.24
Udder Depth 0.28
Front Teat Placement 0.26
Teat Length 0.26
Final Score 0.29

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Heritability is one of the most important concepts when it comes to your breeding program.  There are several working definitions, as heritability is used to help plan breeding programs, determine management strategies, estimate breeding values of individual animals, and predict response to selection. In general, traits related to fertility, fitness, health and survival have low heritabilities of less than 0.15. Production traits like milk or protein yield are moderately heritable, with values from 0.15 to about 0.40. So if you are looking to see significant gains from your breeding programs it’s best to focus on highly heritable traits, otherwise your breeding program is more of a field of dreams.

 

The Dairy Breeders No BS Guide to Genomics Not sure what all this hype about genomics is all about?

Want to learn what it is and what it means to your breeding program?

Download this free guide.

Comments (2)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : ,

Why Breeding Recommendations are like Butts

By Andrew Hunt · Comments (0)
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

It’s all depends on the genes.  Still determining what sire to mate your cattle to can be very challenging.  Your local A.I. representative will probably tell you to mate the cow to their highest ranked sire or whatever bull seems to be the flavor of the month.  Your neighbor will tell you to mate your cow to whatever sire worked well in their herd. In addition, the local feed salesmen or cattle dealer are no different they all have an opinion.  So what is a breeder supposed to do?

Do you mate for production, do you mate for index or maybe it’s the next great show calf?  No matter what your goals are, you need to have  clear ones.   Due to heritability of traits, t can take many generations to improve certain traits significantly.    That’s why you can often infuse production into a pedigree in 1 or 2 generations, but it can take 3-6 generations to have a significant effect on calving ease, feet and legs and other less heritable traits.

You will often find that the A.I. studs will contract top cattle to the extreme sires, leaving the breeders with the risk of getting the duds.  That’s not because they want to screw up your breeding programs.  It’s because they are looking for the extremes.  They are typically working with the donor population that has proven to excel in both type and production, and are looking to produce that extreme sire.  They are willing to sample 2-3 sons out of cow to get that one that hits the mark.  For their profitability and breeding program that is a measured risk that they are willing to accept.

On  the other hand, as the cattle breeder who wants to gain maximum genetic gain as well as marketability can you afford to use these extreme cases?  The answer is most likely,  “No!” From a genetic standpoint by having, “dud” females hit your donor’s proof you end up hurting her index.   From a marketing standpoint having “less than attractive” daughters of your top cattle can be a sales killer.

This  is why you always need to protect the matings on your top donors.  While it would be worthwhile to do one or two matings for the extremes to produce the next generation of bull dams or donor cattle you really need to mate to the balanced approach as well.

With that in mind, we have prepared balanced mating recommendations for 50 of the top in demand sires in the world.

Comments (0)
Categories : Mating Recomendations
Tags : , ,

Archives

The Bullvine LLC © 2013 | Terms of Use | Community Guidelines | Privacy Policy |