Dairy sires
THIS week marks the launch of the new dairy sires’ catalogue for the 2012/13 breeding season by Ai Services (Northern Ireland) Ltd. Comprising the most comprehensive list of proven Holstein bulls made available to date by the Ballycraigy-based business, the new listings also include an exciting selection of genomically tested sires plus many of the best bulls available across the range of coloured breeds: Ayrshire, Jersey, Swedish Red, Montbelliarde etc.
“There are twenty one main bulls in the catalogue representing a selection of the best dairy sires available in Germany, the United states, France and the Netherlands. ,” confirmed Ai Services’ breeding services’ manager Ivan Minford.
“They have an average PLI of 181 with 430 kilos of milk, 22.4 kilos of fat and 18.4 kilos of protein with seven of the bulls scoring over 2 points in type. In addition, fourteen of the sires will make improvements in daughter fertility.
“The sires available also combine all of the traits now recognised universally as being crucially important within any dairy breeding programme.
These include enhanced lifetime production & longevity; enhanced milk quality; improved health traits, fertility and, of course, type.”
“Many of our bulls are now available as ‘sexed’ options. We continue to recommend sexed semen for use on maiden heifers only.
Farmers should ensure that the heifers inseminated are on a rising plane of nutrition and that no health-related issues will serve to reduce conception rates.”
Ivan went on to confirm that the use of genomically tested bulls offer milk producers the opportunity to speed up the rate of genetic progress made within their herds.
“In many ways they represent the means by which farmers can skip a generation when it comes to improving the breeding status of their herds,” he further explained.
“We are recommending that producers should opt for a selection of the genomic sires now available, using each on a relatively small number of cows and heifers.
In this way, the genetic improvement which they constitute can be secured most effectively. Significantly, genomic proofs are now almost as reliable as those produced through actual daughter assessment.”
The Ai Services’ representative went on to discuss the challenge of rising input costs, which is currently impacting on every local dairy farm.
“The good news is that our semen charges are extremely competitive this year,” he commented.
“However, it is worth pointing out that securing good genetics represents the investment that will always pay back the highest level of return on every dairy farm.”
The Dairy Sires 2013 listing contains seven new bulls, now available from Ai Services for the first time: Army; Goldday, Gunnar, Massey, Sudan, Tempo and Cole.
Army is an outcross pedigree suitable for breeding to Garner, Holman and other O-Man sons. His daughters display snugly attached udders with fantastic feet and legs and wide rumps.
The daughters all show improvements in all health traits, especially daughter fertility.
Cole combines fantastic type with excellent yields of fat and protein. His extremely placid daughters have exceptional rump width and display strong chests and deep bodies
Goldday is one of the top type Goldwyn sons available. His daughters are uniform and correct, especially in thre mammary system – where the udders are snugly attached. Goldday will also improve chest and body depth, with very good rump width and rump angle.
Gunnar has already made an impact in the show ring, with many of his daughters winning prizes in Germany. The stylish daughters display good dairy frame with a slight slope to the rump.
Feet and legs are excellent with great locomotion. Gunnar really excels in thre mammary area with tremendous height, width and udder support.
Massey is a phenomenon in the Holstein breeding world. He was the first sold as a high ranking genomic sire and now has over 700 daughters in his USA proof. Massey’s dam has produced many other high ranking progeny, with many other still to appear.
Sudan will be in huge demand as an outcross sire, without sacrificing type or production. His daughters are stylish with excellent dairy character and strength.
Uddres are both firmly attached, both fore and rear. The legs nd feet score of +2.5 make Sudan a very attractive sire for any breeding programme.
Tempo is a massive improver in fat and protein percentages. His Daughters are particularly impressive in the mammary system, with excellent fore and rear attachments. The management trait for daughter fertility is excellent.
For further information, contact Ai Services (Northern Ireland) Ltd on 028 9083 3123.
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Source: farminglife