UK milking daughters buoy world’s leading proven sires

The new number one daughter-proven Holstein, with a Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) of £737 on our August ranking (published today), is the Boastful son, Westcoast Guarantee.

Improving as new daughters are added to his Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs), Guarantee edges up from second position in the previous index run, thanks largely to the superb cross-section of health, fertility and efficiency traits he passes on to his daughters. These include -25 SCC Index, -4 Mastitis Index, favourable maintenance feed costs (-7), and excellent Fertility Index (+13.8). All of this contributes to his impressive Lifespan Index (+119 day), meaning his daughters, on average, will live 119 days longer than the UK-average cow.

The only new entrant in the top 10 proven bull ranking is for stable mate, Westcoast Yamaska. This Afterburner son earns a PLI of £696, confirming his young sire genomic credentials as a components improver (+0.23% fat, +0.16% protein). He also has the best TB Advantage in the top 20 proven sires, at +4.9, and a Type Merit of +1.97.

Third placed Welcome Silver Griff moves up from 10th position in April, transmitting outstanding weights of fat and protein (49.4kg fat, 31.9kg protein) and earning a PLI of £688.

View-Home Littlerock now ranks fourth (PLI £672), with the best Maintenance Index in the top 20 (-20), superb lifespan (an extra 146 days) and good calving ease (dCE +0.9).

Holding on to fifth place is Hoanster Zanzibar, the best daughter fertility transmitter in the top 20 at FI +15.6, and now with 463 UK daughters contributing to his PTAs. Also offering superb daughter fertility (FI +15.2) is Progenesis Unicorn, level-pegging with Zanzibar with a PLI of £666 and offering good efficiency, with a Maintenance Index of -8.

Despite a hefty tranche of new UK daughters for Seagull-Bay Jo Dancer (he now has 425 in the UK contributing to his figures), he remains static in seventh position (PLI £664). He offers high fat transmission (49kg, +0.24%) and good udder health (-3 Mastitis).

UK-bred sire Bellemont Perks moves into the top 10 with high components (+0.22% fat, +0.16% protein) and good maintenance (-8) and calf survival (+2.8). His PLI is £663.

Rounding off the top 10 are Pine-Tree Verona (PLI £655) and Cookiecutter Harper (PLI £651). Harper is the highest protein percent improver at +0.18% and the best claw health sire in the top 20 (+4.4 Lameness Advantage, +0.8 Digital Dermatitis).

Other new entries in the top 20 are 11th ranking Welcome-Tel Bromley 3195 (PLI £638), with the highest daughter Lifespan Index (+149 days) in the top 20; Mr Spring Nightsky, with the highest overall type (TM +2.2); OCD Spring Samuri and De-Su 13222 Sunkist (both with £630 PLI), and Endco Supreme, the best udder health bull in the top 20 (-27 SCC, -4 SCC).

“The fact that so many of the top 10 daughter proven sires in the world already have daughters milking in UK herds is testament to the success and uptake of genomics,” says Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB Dairy. “Never before have UK farmers been able to tap into world-class genetics at such an early stage and we can now see this reflected in the number of UK daughters milking.

“Seven of the top 10 bulls have UK daughters contributing to their PTAs, showing how UK producers have taken advantage of top genomic young sires to advance the efficiency of their herds.”