Reliability and stability exemplified by ABS second crop sires With the release of the January 2009 Sire Summary data, ABS second crop sires proved once again to lead the dairy industry with the addition of three ABS Diamond Sires (1,000 milking daughters) and two sires reaching the one million unit milestone.

“ABS has an extraordinary group of second crop sires that truly exemplify customer satisfaction with strong, stable proofs and profitable milking daughters around the world,” stated Scott Bentley, Global Dairy Product Manager.

—From ABS Global news release

Head of the class
After a history-making August 2008 graduating class, the January 2009 class may very well be the second best class in history. WWS adds 29 new Holstein bulls to our line-up, sired by 12 different sire fathers. The anxiously awaited 7HO6417 O MAN sons have arrived, with nine sons now in our active line-up that have TPI values up to +2083! In addition, we graduated our first O MAN grandson.

The January class excels in high components and superb fitness traits, such as calving ease and Daughter Pregnancy Rate.

—From World Wide Sires news release

Semex home to #1 conf Ayrshire
The annual genetic base change saw some change in the rankings of some Ayrshire bulls with few newcomers. 0200AY0580 Des Chamois Poker (Pardner x BBBK) reserved his title as the #1 Conf bull at +14. Poker daughters are performing extremely well in third lactation, contributing to his increase of over 100 LPI points to +2041 LPI. Poker has been a popular sire of sons; they will start on the young sire program toward the middle of 2009. Poker is one of two bulls that saw significant increases.

—From Semex news release

Jerseys top JPI listing
The speculation surrounding 0200JE00988 BW Blaise, is over as he now ranks as the #1 JPI bull following the January 2009 run! The Blaise craze began before his official proof, causing nearly 6,000 units to be delivered in 2008 before his official proof. What made this bull so special before his high ranking? The cow family!

This Jace son out of the Living Legend BW Avery Katie will improve milk without sacrificing pounds of fat or protein. Blaise daughters are above average for stature, have dairy strength, and improve rear udder height and width. The last feature we would like to point out, but certainly not the least, are Blaise’s health and fertility traits, with Blaise passing on 3.3 PL, 0.3 DPR, and 2.88 SCS. With the milk price projection over the next few months being low, blend Blaise in a package and team him with bulls like Advice and Seville to increase production and type in your herd.

—From Semex news release

Join the genomic generation
The next era in dairy cattle genetics has begun. The development of the genotyping process and subsequent incorporation of genomic information into the USDA sire summary evaluations has prompted a new look to the Holstein lineup at Genex Cooperative, Inc.

“With confidence in this new technology, we have taken an aggressive approach by adding 34 new genomically-proven sires to our lineup. These sires are leaders for profitability as well as for individual traits,” stated Doug Wilson, Genex Chief Operating Officer.

—From CRI news release

Best of both worlds
The January 2009 genetic evaluations were released with monumental highlights. With the addition of genomic information to genetic evaluations, Select Sires experienced one of the greatest sire summaries in its history and graduates 13 new Holstein sires into active-A.I.

“The best just got better,” said Blaine Crosser, vice president of dairy sire product line and sales management for Select Sires. “There is no doubt that the incorporation of genomic data is historic for the industry. The Holsteins that we chose to graduate into our active lineup represent the best of both worlds. All of our bulls have been genotyped in addition to having real daughter data from the industry-leading sire-sampling system, the Program for Genetic Advancement (PGA). The PGA is the gold standard to which all genetic progress is measured.”

—From Select Sires news release

Alta retains industry lead in sire fertility
Alta Genetics announced that the company continues to lead the A.I. industry in sire fertility, following the release of Sire Conception Rate (SCR) evaluations by the USDA earlier today. The announcement is another sign of Alta’s leadership in both fertility and accurate genetic evaluations.

“The global dairy market is working through a period that places a high premium on efficiency and getting full value for every dollar invested,” says Cees Hartmans, CEO of Alta Genetics. “Our fertility leadership will generate more pregnancies for the semen investment, offering progressive producers unrivalled reproductive efficiencies and economic value.”

Seventy percent of all Alta sires included in the January 2009 SCR evaluation are above the industry average for sire fertility, a ranking that leads key competitors by a margin of six percent to 50 percent. The average SCR rating for all Alta sires is +1.0. This means the average Alta bull will produce conception rates 1% point higher than the average A.I. bull in the industry. Evaluating industry marketing sires with the greatest number of breedings shows Alta to be leading its competitors by even larger margins.

—From Alta Genetics news release

IPS advances sire lineup with genomics
Following the January 2009 sire summaries, International Protein Sires (IPS) advanced their proven sire lineup through exceptional additions. Ron Sersland, President and CEO stated, “We also bolstered our proven sire offering by utilizing the advanced gene mapping technique with the release of our first genomic tested bull.”

The validation of an animal-breeding program is how well the genetics stand the test of time. IPS has a number of bulls with emerging second crop daughters that support trustworthy genetics. Among the leaders of this group is 6HO0990 Jet. This Durham son leapfrogged to 1701 TPI after nearly doubling the number of tested daughters. In addition, both 6HO999 Cole RC, a popular sire of sons, and 6HO1030 Lilyman realized significant gains with added daughters.

—From IPS news release

New Generation Genetics announces the release of 3 Brown Swiss young sires
54BS458 FOREST LAWN ZEUS DIAMOND ET – This young sire combines the foreign Zoldo Zeus bull by the popular Dice family at Forest Lawn. His Dam is Forest Lawn Ransom Dice who is currently E90 90MS. Dice’s top record is 4-06 365d 39,310m 3.5% 1,395f 3.3% 1,223p. Diamond’s sire is Peters’Top Zoldo Zeus who is +$345 NM$. The parent average for Diamond is +1285m +36f +36p +1.4 DPR and NM$ $416.

—From New Generation Genetics news release

Sun-Made Vigor is highest-ranking Brown Swiss
54BS374 Sun Made Vigor has 86 milking daughters and a proof of +982m +36f -.01% +38p +.03% +0.8 type +7.4 Productive Life and NM$ $582.

—From New Generation Genetics news release

Excalibur Sires bulls making the most of the new year
This year has already caught a glimpse of the bulls that will make a great impact on the Holstein breed. Included are graduates of Excalibur Sires Pinnacle Point Young Sire Program, Reality-Red, Big Daddy and Fillmore.

—From Excalibur Sires news release

Same great line-up – just better!
There’s something to be said for consistency; to be considered the reliable source for top-quality genetic products. That’s the message from the January 2009 sires summaries as it relates to Alta.

January 13, 2009 is a date that will live in the record books for the Alta/Jerseyland Sires Jersey program. On this unprecedented day Alta graduated eight new Jersey sires. This follows on the heels of a highly successful 2008 with the implementation of the ConceptPlus and HealthPlus designations, AltaValue score and Value Builder program for the Jersey department. In addition to this, eight new sires were added to the lineup. While some may call all of this luck, at Alta we are committed to meeting and exceeding the needs of our customers (our partners) and using industry-leading innovation to take us and you to the next level. PD

—From Alta Genetics website