Vikings dominate new interest among non-Holstein sires

Transmission of high health and efficiency are hallmarks of a new wave of leading Jersey bulls, as AHDB publish the Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) rankings for all dairy breeds today.

The new number one in the ranking is the Danish-bred VJ NR Hauggaard Nibali Nibiru, who is an impressive udder health improver (-22 SCC, -2 Mastitis) and climbs six places, with a PLI of £462. 

The high milk quality VJ Groenbjerg Lobo Lobster edges upwards into second place, with Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) for fat and protein of +0.37% and +0.26% respectively.

He has a PLI of £431 and 137 UK daughters contributing to his production figures, also earning an outstanding daughter Fertility Index of 14.0. 

The third position is taken by VJ Kibsgaard Jocko Jojo (PLI £425), graduating for the first time onto the proven bull list and confirming his earlier genomic predictions. He is the highest HealthyCow bull in the top five.

The Ayrshire list also sees a changing of the guard with VR Venom taking over the lead, up from second place, last December.

His PLI now exceeds £500 for the first time despite an annual base change, weighing in at £513.

This is thanks to additional UK daughters (there are now 159) which helped earn his high fat PTA (+0.23%) and good health credentials, including a Fertility Index of 16.9.

The longstanding VR Vilano has been edged down into second position with a PLI of £428, sharing this score with new entrant, the UK-bred Whinnow Origin.

Although Origin only has a limited number of milking daughters, they are enough to graduate him to the proven list. They show great milk potential and help earn him PTAs of 671kg milk and 62.2kg fat plus protein.

Tontine Astorwell climbs up into fourth position (PLI £420), and is another high production UK-born sire (622kg milk) with good SCCs, at -11.

VR Solvarp Hjuve Hosea now rounds off the top five with a similar SCC (-11) and good daughter Lifespan Index (+76 days), earning a PLI of £408.

Friesian

A largely unchanged Friesian list sees Bloemplaat Hoeve Ewoud retain first place with a PLI of £318, so far based on just 14 milking daughters. 

Inch Hearty retains second place (PLI £281), now with 102 daughters, and a strong Lifespan Index (110). He also has the highest Type Merit in the top five, at 1.74.

A new entrant in the third spot is Goonhilly Seb, whose high protein transmission (15kg, +0.10%) helps earn him a PLI of £279.

Catlane Cromwell retains his fourth position (PLI £256) and has the highest HealthyCow index of the top five (£176).

Rounding off the top five is the popular Lakemead Jingle, now with 2,334 UK milking daughters and further improving his high milk transmission (386kg). His PLI is £254.

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

“Health and fitness are increasingly coming to the fore among some of the non-Holstein breeds, offering producers the chance to cut cell counts and improve fertility through breeding, as they may have struggled to do in the past.

"As always, it’s important to remember in these breed-specific rankings that the figures for one breed cannot be compared with another, but should producers wish to do this, they can refer to the across-breed lists where rankings are based on Spring or Autumn Calving Index [£SCI or £ACI].”