Exceptional December 2019 Proof Run for AI Services (Northern Ireland) Ltd
Date Posted: 2nd January 2020
AI Services (Northern Ireland) Ltd’s commitment to securing the best dairy genetics from around the world has, again, been fully vindicated courtesy of the results from the Holstein UK December 2019 proof run.
Peak Hotline is the Number 1 UK and International type bull. He has a Type Merit score of +4.7 with the second place bull trailing at +3.9 Type Merit.
AI Services’ Breeding Services Manager Ivan Minford takes up the story.
Hotline has 83 proven daughters in 64 herds across North America, where his type proof is concerned, with 242 daughters in 102 herds contributing to his production proof.
Hotline has been available from AI Services since 2016 and has proven popular with local milk producers since then.
We also have the Number 1 UK and International daughter proven bull, Bomaz Alta Topshot. He has been the most popular bull with AI Services’ customers over the past two years. His current proof comprises results from 612 daughters in 81 herds across North America.
His original PLI, which was a genomic assessment back in 2016, came in at £762. Today that figure, based on his daughters’ actual performance, stands at £788. Anyone who used the opportunity to use Topshot can now also use one of his exceptional sons, Zarek.
These results confirm the benefit of using genomics as a tool to identify outstanding dairy sires at an early age.
In addition, AI Services has a number of other highly positioned bulls in the new daughter proven lists. VH Balisto Brook sits at Number 7 in the ranking with a PLI of £710. He has 700 daughters in his production proof and 209 daughters in his type proof. The Number 9 bull on the list is Co-Op Robust Cabriolet with a PLI of £709.
Turning to the latest genomic proofs, Ivan confirmed that AI Services has four of the top ten sires featuring on that list. These are Bomaz Alta Cabot with a PLI of £867; Peak Alta Leap with a PLI of £860, Velder Starmaker with a PLI of £852 and Peak Alta Zarek with a PLI of £847.
Ivan explained:-
We have just enjoyed another record business year. Where dairy is concerned, the key drivers at farm level are cow longevity and daughter fertility.
Both these traits can be bred for. AI Services has uniquely strong relationships with the world’s best dairy breeding companies. This allows us to select the bulls that will perform best on farms here in Northern Ireland.
According to Ivan, a commitment to breed for improved health attributes has been a feature of the development programmes put in place by many local milk producers over the past number of years.
It’s a commitment that has paid off.
Many dairy farmers are reporting significantly reduced culling rates on the grounds of poor cow fertility while the average lifespan of cows on dairy farms across Northern Ireland has increased accordingly.
It makes perfect sense for milk producers to put a significant focus on health traits when it comes to selecting the AI bulls they use on their cows.
Improving cow longevity and daughter fertility means it requires a lower number of replacement heifers to meet the overall development needs of every herd.
The growing use of sexed semen is also helping milk producers to meet this target using a lower number of dairy straws. In turn this is allowing farmers to use greater levels of beef semen in their lower ranking cows.
For further information contact AI Services (Northern Ireland) Ltd on 028 9083 3123 or visit the company website.
