New sires for block calvers ready for the autumn

Producers calving in a block this autumn and now turning their attention to sire selection will find the Autumn Calving Index (£ACI) highlights sires most suited to their needs. At the top of this ranking, published today (9 August) by AHDB Dairy, is Bomaz Monument-P, who makes his debut as a proven sire.

Autumn Calving Index (£ACI)

Also leading in the separate Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) ranking for year-round calving herds, he shows what a strong contender he is across a range of UK farming systems. In particular, he offers high milk fat, long daughter lifespans and good calf survival, all of which are requirements of any successful dairy enterprise.

Monument-P’s ACI of £661 is 15 points ahead of second placed Progenesis Wimbledon (ACI £646) who is also the leader in this month’s Spring Calving Index (£SCI) ranking.

In third place is the UK-bred Holstein, Boghill Glamour Persuade (ACI £637). With 10 milking daughters contributing to his index, he just qualifies for these daughter-proven rankings on early data.

VH River Ramsey moves up to fourth position, with an ACI of £634, transmitting good udder health in particular. In joint fifth position are ABS Sassafras and VH Bosman Bahrain (ACI £626), Sassafras transmitting the better milk components, while Bahrain is higher for milk volume.

Westcoast Yamaska, who led the rankings previously, is now in seventh position (ACI £616). He now has almost 1,200 UK milking daughters confirming his high fat and protein transmission.

A second UK-bred sire, Stowey Magician, now ranks in eighth position (ACI £610) and demonstrates strong daughter fertility ratings. And rounding off the top 10 are Peak AltaKlaebo who climbs to ninth position (ACI £604), and the strong lifespan transmitter, Melarry Frazz Arrowhead, now ranking 10th (ACI £592).

Spring Calving Index (£SCI)

Holstein sire Progenesis Wimbledon takes the lead in the £SCI rankings, thanks to high fat and protein percentage transmission and a significant improvement in his daughter Fertility Index. He now has an SCI of £557 and will shorten his calves’ gestation length – a feature often beneficial to tight block calving herds.

This pushes the previous Jersey frontrunner, VJ Ravninggaard Huus Hamlet (SCI £548) into second position.

Moving up to take third place is another Jersey in the shape of VJ Groenbjerg Lobo Lobster.  His SCI of £542 reflects his daughters’ high milk solids and good lifespans.

The Holstein sire, ABS Sassafras gains a few places and now ranks fourth (SCI £539), transmitting a higher milk volume than the three bulls ranking above him.

Danish Jersey VJ Zummit retains his fifth position (SCI £523), while the new Holstein £ACI and £PLI frontrunner, Bomaz Monument-P, makes his appearance in joint sixth position (SCI £522) and is one of the higher production sires in this list. Level-pegging VH Balisto Brixton has the best Lameness Advantage of the top bulls.

Another new entry in eighth place is the UK-bred Holstein, Boghill Glamour Persuade (SCI £519). VH Bosman Bahrain (SCI £515) moves up to ninth and the final new entry in the top 10 is the New Zealand-bred Jersey, Shelby Integ Labyrinth (SCI £513).

Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB comments: “With both £SCI and £ACI expressed on an across-breed basis, these rankings allow those who wish to assess the strengths and weaknesses of bulls from different breeds to make ready comparisons, which is especially useful for those with crossbred herds.

“However, it’s important to note that because the figures are expressed against an across-breed average, they must not be compared with any breed-specific £PLI lists.”