New daughter-proven sire brings improved enviro-credentials

A new frontrunner has emerged in the daughter-proven sire ranking, published today (9 August) by AHDB Dairy. Bomaz Monument-P takes this position for the first time, as the influence of his early daughters milking outside the UK begins to be felt. These help earn this polled ABS Medley son a Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) of £785, along with high Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) for fat (43.9kg and +0.22%), daughter Lifespan (LS +134 days) and Calf Survival (CS +3). 

Monument-P also has the best EnviroCow index of any proven sire, at 3.8. This means that thanks largely to his ability to transmit high milk solids, with strong lifespan and improved feed conversion efficiency, his daughters are predicted to create fewer greenhouse gas emissions in their lifetimes for each kilogram of solids-corrected milk they produce.

The next three places are all occupied by sons of the popular mating sire, DG Charley, who now has a total of four sons in the top 10. The first of these is Denovo 14566 Crosby, the former frontrunner from the April run of genetic evaluations. Now in second place with a PLI of £737, his index features strong udder health (Somatic Cell Count -25 and Mastitis -3), with breed-leading Calf Survival (CS 6.1).

Moving up to third position is Hurtgenlea Richard Charl, with a PLI of £730. This high milk bull (PTA milk, 966kg) also features a very favourable Maintenance Index of -16.

New in fourth place is Neal, the best Feed Advantage bull in the rankings with a score of 197. Neal also features a good genetic index for Digital Dermatitis, at 0.7, which helps earn him the best Lameness Advantage in the top 20, at 3.5.

The familiar name of Westcoast Yamaska appears in equal fifth position, his 1,183 UK daughters milking in 223 herds helping to earn him a PLI of £723. He shares this position with Riethil Summerlake, who features the best udder health data in the top 20 (SCC -30, Mastitis -4) and is the top 10’s fourth son of Charley.

Topstone is a new entry in seventh position, with a PLI of £722. A son of Bomaz AltaTopshot (who incidentally still ranks in the top 20 himself, with 1,757 UK daughters), Topstone transmits long daughter lifespans (LS +165 days) and a short Gestation Length (-4).

Eighth and ninth places are held by bulls which were also high-fliers in the previous index run. Both sired by De-Su 13050 Spectre and both offering outstanding fat transmission, the first is ABS Zebedee (PTA fat 49.6kg), with a PLI of £706, ahead of ABS Crimson. With even higher milk solids, Crimson weighs in with PTAs of 50.9kg fat and 33.2kg protein and a PLI of £703.

The highest daughter fertility bull of the top 20 is UK-bred Stowey Magician. He rounds off the top 10 with a Fertility Index of +16.6 and a PLI of £700.

“Sires in the daughter-proven top 10 ranking come with £PLI reliabilities ranging from 70% to 97%, offering the highest level of predictability in their breeding performance,” says Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB Dairy. “This provides reassurance for producers who prefer to use tried-and-tested bloodlines, which they may choose to mix with a team of high £PLI young genomic sires to make the greatest genetic gains.”

For the complete list of available bulls, please visit the AHDB website.

Rolling base

There’s a reminder this month that all genetic evaluations are now the subject of a rolling base. This means that the average animal against which all bulls are benchmarked now changes each year, in April, rather than every five years as was previously the case. The use of this ‘rolling base’ means there’s a slight drop in £PLI every year as the national average moves up. For 2022, Holstein females born in the UK between 2014 and 2017 are used as the average population, (or genetic base), such that any genetic index above zero (or below in the case of Maintenance, SCC and Mastitis Index) is better than average.