The December Holstein sire indexes, published today (Tuesday 3 December) by DairyCo Breeding+, tell a story of UK success, with three of the top 10 daughter-proven bulls – in a fiercely competitive international field – home-bred in Britain.
Of the three bulls – Ballycairn Oman Pello, Sherdon Irresistable and Cogent Twist– Irresistable will attract the most interest amongst producers, as he is a newcomer to the top 10 Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) ranking (he rises to third from 15th position) and has an outcross pedigree into the bargain. Bred by Jerry Palmer in Devon, he has no Oman, Shottle, Goldwyn or Planet in his pedigree and has been awarded 2013 Outcross Sire of the Year by an international Holstein magazine in a triumph for UK breeding.
A son of Cogent Maestro (in turn by Lukas), Irresistable has plenty of health and fitness in his pedigree and is predicted to transmit good fertility, low cell counts and long lifespans on to his daughters. His PLI is an impressive £255 while other highlights include nearly 40kg fat and positive components.
Ahead of Irresistable, the German-bred Guarini retains his number one position for PLI, rising to £268 and maintains his good Type Merit at 2.29, while Pello, ranked second, adds even more production to his high-performance index. Now with 1,104kg milk, 43.7kg fat and 35.8kg protein, he combines this phenomenal production with one of the lowest cell count indexes in the top 20 and ease of calving.
Beneath third-ranking Irresistable, a top-20 newcomer makes his debut, in the shape of the Danish-bred, VH Tirvad Goldwyn Grafit. Like Guarini, he is a Goldwyn son, and is predicted to transmit plenty of quality milk along with good health and fertility across the board, as well as a Type Merit of 1.88. On the strength of his original genomic figures he has already been used as a sire of sons in Denmark.
There is little change among the remaining top 20 bulls, although Cogent Twist starts to bring second crop daughters into his index, maintaining his PLI (£249) and edging upwards for type (TM 1.36), while Regancrest AltaIota becomes another big mover. Adding 29 PLI points to reach £232 and improving on type to 2.35, he becomes the number three conformation transmitter in the PLI top 20.
Just edging ahead on Type Merit at 2.36 is another newcomer to the PLI top 20 in the shape of Welcome Glenton. This US-bred son of Planet has a PLI of £225 and transmits solid production and fitness, as well as good type on to his daughters.
The final new name in the daughter-proven top 20 is Aurora Jeroen, a son of Beekmanshoeve Bertil, a bull which hails from the same cow family as the well-known UK-bred Ballycairn Tiergan. Jeroen’s sire and cow family both have good components, and this can be seen in the bull’s own index.
“It’s a pleasure to see three UK-bred sires in the top 10 and highlights the fact that UK breeding is on a par with the best in the world,” says Marco Winters from DairyCo. “The fact that two of these three bulls are also available as sexed semen will further assist UK breeders when it comes to producing replacements.”
Source: DairyCo
