Keeping its place as the number one herd

The Ballycairn herd is the highest ranking for our Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) in the UK. Its owner, Andrew McCollum, discusses whether this is important, how it has been achieved and obstacles which may prevent its continuation.

Northern Ireland dairy producers William and Andrew McCollum never set out to have the highest £PLI herd in the UK.

£PLI was never a goal in its own right, but rather a mechanism through which they could breed exactly the type of cows they liked. These would be small, easy-care cows with high milk solids together with good fertility, low cell counts and outstanding locomotion. They would slot effortlessly into the system the father and son team were running at Cairn Farm, close to the north coast in Coleraine.

Being an early adopter of genetic indexes in general gave the herd a good start. By the time we launched the £PLI in the late 1990s, they had wide experience with the power of heredity and were keen to adopt genetic indexes as they were developed.

“We have always seen the need for butterfat and protein and pushed the early indexes which included milk solids at that time.”

This feeds through to the autumn calving herd on the 400-acre (162 ha) farm today. Around 300 milking Holsteins – 60% of which are first calvers – produce an annual average of 9,131 litres at 4.49% fat and 3.55% protein (305 days, 2x).

Non-production traits have also been a priority. Andrew recalls when we introduced the genetic index for somatic cell count (SCC) in 1990.

“We could see from our cows that SCC was hereditary, so when the index came along, we jumped on it as quickly as we could.”

Now seeing the dividends in the herd’s current performance, its rolling annual cell count is generally maintained at under 100,000 cells/ml.

Also critically important has been a cut in antibiotic use. Today, 90% of the herd is dried off with teat sealant, without recourse to antibiotic tubes.

By 2003, SCC had been included in the £PLI formula. Andrew said:

“We quickly realised it had become a very useful index for genetic selection.”  

As more health and fitness components continued to be added, he also appreciated the balance of its traits.

“We realised £PLI had a nice combination of health traits alongside production, so we were not selecting for one thing against another,” he says.

Anxious not to breed a herd of healthy cows which did not give any milk, he is happy with the balance the index has struck.

“Our cows today are easier to manage; they calve themselves and lameness is not an issue.”

He particularly rates their improvement in fertility, which is achieved without any fertility programmes.

“We have fewer interventions in each cow than we ever had before and there are no washouts after calving.”

Reproductive indicators have correspondingly improved and include a conception rate to first service of 46% and a calving interval of 370 days.

However, despite the £PLI’s negative weighting for stature, Andrew is disappointed that he has struggled to prevent an increase in the height of his cows.

Andrew said the UK’s national average for stature, continually reset to zero on the genetic index scale, has crept relentlessly up:

“People often think a -1 score will breed a very small cow, but in today’s bull population, -1 is exactly what we want.”

In fact, a bull scoring zero is the tallest he’d want to use.

However, today he focuses on Maintenance Index and Feed Advantage rather than stature. He prefers their combined emphasis on overall weight and body traits and the efficiency of converting feed into milk.

“We want our cows to make more milk from less feed, which is more efficient for both us and our carbon footprint.”

Also observing that his cows are far healthier today and managed with fewer staff, he says:

“This definitely feeds through to profits; it’s also so much better for cow welfare and the consumer looking on.”

Expressed in figures, all of this has earned Ballycairn the status of the UK’s number-one herd, with an average £PLI of £469 across the age profile. At £677 across the youngest generation, including £914 for the herd’s best heifer calf (Ballycairn Wesson 6438 Wilma), its lead looks likely to continue. It will also be accelerated by genomically testing and strictly selecting every heifer calf born on the farm.

With the herd’s best two-year-olds giving 11,000 litres with high solids and calving again inside the year, he adds:

“I’d like to think that in a few years’ time, our average production could be at that level.”

The role of conformation in Andrew’s selection may seem ambiguous, as although the herd is classified, he makes no bull selection on type. He says:

“I don’t look at type indexes. I don’t even give them a glance.

“They are calculated from an opinion based on a 10-second inspection, made once in an animal’s lifetime.” 

However, despite his reservations, he enjoys the process for his own herd. Their outstanding results (including 52% of two-year-olds classified VG) show that a high-index herd can achieve top classification grades.

The type of cow the McCollums produce is in growing demand, and the family has taken to running an annual sale. Dubbed the Profitable Lifetime Sale, and most recently held on 31 October 2024, the average price this year was just shy of £3,000 for the 70 milkers sold.

Generally sold as second or third-calvers, they are often at peak production. Their departure explains the young age profile of the herd.

With sexed dairy semen used across the whole herd, a remarkable 450 heifer calves are born each year. This allows a further 100–150 milkers and around 100 heifer calves to leave the farm through private sales.

With around 35% of the farm’s income coming from stock sales and 65% from milk, buyers are keenly aware that even the animals sold from the farm are genetically in the UK’s top 1%.

“Our buyers don’t necessarily seek out £PLI, but they are looking for average-sized cows able to keep condition and produce fat and protein,” he says.

“The key for us is having return buyers and recommendations to neighbours, and even those who don’t follow £PLI appreciate the consequences of its effects.”

Andrew says he has concerns that some of the AI industry is placing too great an emphasis on international indexes while also limiting availability to UK producers to some of its bulls, through restrictive contracts.

“It’s all about the shareholders, and the international market gives wider opportunities, but we know from experience that the American indexes are not serving UK dairy farmers well.

“Genetics work slightly differently in different climates, with different forages and on different cows,” he says.

“And where a company gives preference to America’s TPI (Total Performance Index) to serve international markets, it is hoping for a crossover with £PLI, which isn’t always the case.”

In the Ballycairn herd, Andrew and his father will continue to use £PLI as their main breeding tool. They will also keep a watching brief on the recently introduced EnviroCow, and carefully select Holstein bulls from the largest and most genetically diverse breed population in the world.