Genosource Captain leads as UK daughters added to his tally

Genosource Captain has been a long-term leader within the Holstein breed both as a young, genomic sire and now that he has daughters of his own. With 180 milking in the UK adding to his international figures, he weighs in at the top of the pack in December’s genetic evaluations, published today by AHDB.

With a PLI of £814, Captain establishes himself as a leading production bull, with 1219kg Predicted Transmitting Ability (PTA) for milk. He also has good ratings for Calf Survival (2.4), and is the leading bull in these rankings for FeedAdvantage, meaning producers can except efficiency of feed conversion from his daughters.

Second place is taken by FB Kenobi Targaryen (PLI £808), who graduates from the young genomic sire listings, with 134 UK milking daughters contributing to his figures. His high protein PTA of 39.6kg confirms his genomic prediction, and he’s a big somatic cell count improver at SCC -25.

Even more impressive for udder health is Westcoast River, whose tremendous SCC Index of -30 and Mastitis at -3 contribute to his PLI of £789. With over 100 new UK milking daughters bolstering his figures, he rises to third position and has a Lifespan Index of +134 days, outstanding Fertility Index (16.1), and earns a HealthyCow of £337.

Bomaz Kettle now ranks fourth (PLI £762), strengthening his impressive fat transmission as more daughters come into milk, to reach 50.8kg, the second highest figure amongst the available proven sires.

However, the top-spot for this component is taken by Denovo 14744 Ginetta, whose PTA of 51kg fat helps to earn him a PLI of £759. Ginetta also rates well for TB Advantage (2.9), meaning daughters will have better resistance than average to the disease.

Silverridge V Einstein makes his way into the top 10 again, now ranking sixth with a PLI of £750.

Now with his first UK milking daughters, Progenesis Wimbledon receives a PLI of £721, earning him seventh place. Wimbledon transmits exceptional milk components (+0.31% fat, +0.24% protein), and high daughter fertility (14.2).

Climbing to eighth is Aardema Pistolero with a favourable Lifespan Index (+128 days), helping earn him a PLI of £712. This places him just ahead of Peak AltaPlinko at £710, who holds on to his ranking in the top 10, now with UK daughters contributing to his evaluation.

Rounding off the top 10 is new entry, Genosource Johnboy (PLI £706), who graduates from the young bull listing and has the highest Type Merit of the top 10 at 2.29.

Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB, said:

"The majority of producers now use high £PLI genomic sires for breeding dairy replacements, but these proven sires affirm the good sense of that choice.

"Although it’s usually around fours year later that young, genomic sires graduate to the proven ranking, they are doing so with continuity across their daughter performance figures.

"And while many producers may not choose to return to them once they are daughter-proven, these older bulls, which have stood the test of time, should give producers confidence in their use of genomic predictions on which to base their breeding choices."

Daughters of Genosource Captain at Grosvenor Farm in Cheshire