The December Australian Breeding Values released at the beginning of December has revealed the top cows, herds and bulls in Australia.
Cypress Grove V4 Jernimy Tiffany GP83 is the number one Holstein cow at 574 Balanced Performance Index. Owned by the Jones family, Foster, Vic, Tiffany is a daughter of the top-ranked Australian proven-sire ABS Jeronimo.
Holding down second place is its full sister, Cypress Grove V2 Jeronimo Tiffany GP81 with a BPI of 545. Illawambra River Sleepy 3950 is again the number one heifer in the Holstein breed at 529 BPI. Bred by Trevor and Leah Parrish, Barrengarry, NSW. Sleepy is one of six heifers bred by the Parrishes in the top 40.
A third lactation AussieGold daughter, 9735, owned by Alan Burgess, Tallygaroopna, Vic, is the number one Jersey BPI cow with a BPI of 472. 9735 milks alongside over more than herdmates in one of Australia’s largest commercial Jersey herds.
The top genotyped young heifer is 5835, a daughter of the high-ranking sire Douggan, owned by Matt Hoffman of Timboon, Vic. It has a BPI of 389. Darien and Alex Mathews, Inverloch, Vic, hold down second spot with Langdale Matt Naomi 2. Naomi has a BPI of 385.
The Clark family, Mt Gambier, SA, own the number one Aussie Red cow. It is a VIKRFaber daughter with a BPI of 438 and was bred by Jan Raleigh, Timboon. It was bought by the Clarks at Ms Raleigh’s dispersal sale. The top genotyped young heifer is also owned by the Clark family and is a VIKRTokyo daughter of the number one cow. It has a BPI of 412.
Top herds
Some changes to the reporting rules around herds have seen some changes at the top of the herd list.
George Wagner’s Rengaw herd holds down top spot in the Holsteins with an average BPI of 255. Enthusiastic young breeder Brendon Winter from Warragul, Vic, has the top Health Weighted Index herd at 247 HWI. It is also the number 2 BPI herd. The Kitchen family’s Carenda herd, Boyanup, WA, ranks third for both BPI and HWI.
In the Jerseys Rob and Sandra Bacon’s Brookbora Jersey herd, Tennyson, Vic, is again the top Jersey herd. With an average BPI of 204, it come in ahead of the Glennen Family’s White Star herd based at Noorat, Vic, with a BPI of 202.
Aussie Red stalwarts Ron and Sam Graham, Numbaa, NSW, have the number one BPI and HWI herd.
Top bulls
ABS Jeronimo (29HO18698) again heads the Holstein proven sire list at 539 BPI. Available from ABS, this popular, polled A2 sire has several high-quality sons available from various suppliers.
The Semex sire Westcoast Perseus has moved up to number two on the proven sire list. Like ABS Jeronimo, Perseus has a number of high genomic sons in the system through its use when it was a high-ranking genomic young sire. It now has thousands of milking daughters around the world and is 96 per cent reliable for production in Australia.
Sandy-Valley Fedora (14HO13980) is a newcomer to the list, which is not surprising as it was a popular genomic young sire previously. It too has several highly ranked sons on the genomic list and is available through Genetics Australia.
The Australian and International Sires list contains bulls that have milking daughters in any country including Australia. ABS Jeronimo also heads this list with 255 daughters milking in 34 Australian herds.
Sandy-Valley BBD Freeborn (7HO13981) from World Wide Sires slips down to number two on the list with 514 BPI based on 1048 daughters milking in the United States.
Westcoast Galahad is a new entrant to this group with 1583 daughter milking in Canada and a BPI of 500. Available from Semex, Galahad has a good all-round proof.
There are now 23 young genomic bulls with a BPI of 500 or greater spread across seven different semen suppliers.
As is the fast-paced nature of the genomic world, the top three bulls from August have now been overtaken by a new group. Progenesis Polaris (0200HO12176) from Semex heads the list with a BPI of 564, higher than any other bull in the breed. With strong ratings across the board, especially for type and health traits, Polaris will prove to be popular.
STGFondoo is ranked second on this list. At 546 BPI, STGFondoo has 40 milking daughters in Australia, but not quite enough reliability to make it to the proven list. Huge ratings for milk and protein are features of STGFondoo. It is available from ST Genetics, Australia.
Another ST Genetics young sire holds down third place. STGHollywood at 544 BPI, is an A2A2 sire with good ratings across the board.
The leader of this group last run is now ranked fourth. TommyDee is an Australian-bred sire from the herd of John and Vicki Lillico, Tasmania. With a BPI of 544, TommyDee is also a strong HWI bull with solid ratings for Survival, Mastitis Resistance and Fertility.
In the Jersey lists, for an amazing sixth consecutive run, Wilsonview IF Matt (7JE01344) holds down the number one Australian proven spot. This reliable sire is available from WWS and has strong ratings across the board backed by high reliability.
CSCBalenti arrives on the list with 283 BPI just ahead of the perennial All Lynns Louie Valentino (7J1038). CSCBalenti has 90 daughters milking in 22 herds and was bred by Rohan and Graeme Sprunt, Kaarimba, Vic.
In the Australian and International Sires list, former high-ranking sire Douggan from Genetics Australia heads this list and the breed for BPI at 461. Bred by the Glennen family, Noorat, Victoria, Douggan has 265 milking daughters in 39 herds validating its strong production breeding value.
Ahlem Dimennsion Jiminy (7JE01659) from WWS holds down second spot after debuting in the same spot last run. Jiminy now has 143 daughters milking in the US.
It is pleasing to see a number of high-ranking former genomic young sires such as Douggan, Dobson, Invincible, ValenBlast and Asknin the top 10 of this list demonstrating the reliability of genomics.
At 394 BPI, CSCWoodside is the number one Jersey genomic sire again for this run. Available from ABS and bred by United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Paul Mumford and his wife Lisa, CSCWoodside is a very well-balanced bull with strong ratings across the board.
Not far behind is newcomer Pickle at 390 BPI. Pickle was bred by Luke and Mel Wallace, Poowong North, Vic, and is available from Genetics Australia. The December 2021 ABV release marked the second official release of genomics for the breeds in the Red Dairy Breed group.
These genomic ABVs for four traits (milk, fat, protein and cell count) have been combined with conventional ABVs to provide Red enthusiasts with enhanced BPI, HWI and Australian Selection Index indexes.
Using state-of-the-art “single step” methodology it was pleasing to see the consistency of the breeding values from run to run.
It was also good to see some new faces emerging from the genomic testing that took place between the August and December runs.
The Norwegian sire Onstad P continues to lead the proven sire list.
Available through ABS, this polled sire with a BPI 0f 350 will attract a lot of attention.
Genetics Australia bulls hold down the top four places on the genomic list with emerging sire ARBCaisar on top with 341 BPI.
It is followed by the Onstad son ARBPrimestead at 329 BPI.
It is pleasing to see a range of bloodlines and diversity of proof composition, providing red breeders with plenty of choice.
Source: Australia Dairy Farmer