Friday, December 14, 2012

Our New Jersey "HERD"

Be sure to check out the new December Jersey Catalog ! Lets us know what you think about our new additions!



Horizons


"Have You Herd?" The December 2012 issue of Dairy Horizons is here! Check it out!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Beef Synchronization Protocols

December 3-4, 2012 the Applied Reproductive Strategies in Beef Cattle Conference was held in Sioux Falls, SD.  During the Conference the Beef Reproduction Task Force met and approved the latest recommendations in beef cattle synchronization.  The Beef Reproduction Task Force is made up of A.I. industry professionals and extension staff.  They work together to review literature and make sound research based recommendations for synchronization to producers. 

The newest addition to the protocol sheet is the PG 5-day CO-Synch + CIDR protocol and is recommended for use in Bos indicus influenced cattle only.

The new protocols will be included in the 2013 Beef Genetic Management Guide when it is printed in January.

Written by:  Sarah Thorson
Beef Education Manager
 

Monday, December 10, 2012

"Have you HERD" about our Color Breeds?

Our December Jersey catalog has everything that the Jersey breed is demanding. 
There is great concern among Jersey Dairymen that the breed is bottle necking around Impuls and the Violet family.  The top 5 progeny proven bulls in our catalog (Allstar, SF, Plus, Braveheart and Goose) are free of Impuls and Violet, and all are in the top 35 of the official Jersey Performance List.
Trinity's Allstar Melody
Daughter of 1J654 Allstar
 
* 1J654,Allstar is our progeny proven leader for profitability at 561 CM$.  He sires excellent udders and extreme components and is a stunning +3.8 SCR.
* 1J648, SF, will sire well balanced profitable cows as his 536 CM$ conclusively demonstrates.
* 1J711, Plus, is earning a reputation for siring the best young cows in the breed.  They have great dairy strength and exceptional udder conformation to go along with high fluid yield.  He’s also an outstanding +3.6 SCR.
* 1J798,Braveheart and 1J672 Goose have absolutely no Danish influence in their pedigrees.

Allstar, Goose and Braveheart are all available in GenChoice and their unique pedigrees will allow our members to use them with confidence throughout their heifer pens.

We also have an exceptional group of very exciting genomicly proven Jerseys that offer a wide variety of pedigree options. 
* 1J792,Machete,a Vibrant from an Impuls, leads the group with 656 CM$.  He sires the unique combination of high fluid yield and high components.
* 1J791,Dividend, a Valentino from a Restore, is our JPI leader at 235.  He sires extreme fluid yield and outstanding udders as his 4.52 JUI attests.  His full brother 1J793, Divine, sires a very similar profile.
* 1J768,Hendrix, a Lennox from a Matinee, excels in fitness traits with a stellar 2.76 SCS and +1.5DPR.
* 1J794, Zayd, is our first Plus son. He’s a personal favorite of mine and I’m confident that he’ll sire outstanding frames, great udders and longevity.  Zayd’s dam shows the same exceptional dairy strength as Plus dam.   Both cows are still working hard in large commercial herds.
* 1J770,Dominican, a Headline from an Impuls, is siring some of the highest genomic calves in the breed.  He’s a total performance standout with an exceptional 2.0 SCR.

All six of these bulls, Machete, Dividend, Divine, Hendrix, Zayd and Dominican have one thing in common.  They are all available in GenChoice.

On proof day we added 5 exciting and diverse new genomic proven bulls to our lineup.

1J801, Madden is a Valentino from a Matinee who is predicted to sire the elusive combination of high yield with components and positive DPR.
* 1J810,Enrique, is a Legal from a Dale with an impressive +512 CM.
* 1J809,Willie, is a Renegade from a truly unique maternal line, Levy x Beau x Steadfast.  He’ll sire excellent components and fitness.  He’ll work great on daughters of Plus.
* 1J806,Toronto, Merchant x Nathan has a gaudy 5.79 JUi.
* Rounding out the group is 1J800, Racer, a Legal x matinee.

Genex is the Jersey source for genetic excellence, diversity and GenChoice from our very best bulls.

The Genex colored breed lineup continues to be strong.

Ayrshire breeders will be excited to see that 1A341, Joey, a Jupiter from a Humour, with a Parent average of over 500 NM$ is now available in GenChoice.

Our Brown Swiss lineup continues to feature three exceptional genomic proven Vigor sons:  1B591, Brute; 1B586, Victory and 1B589,Alimony.

The Genex Guernsey offering continues to be the strongest in the industry, featuring total performance breeder favorites 1G434 Geo, 1G439 Sherbert and 1G436 BlueSpruce.  These progeny proven standouts are supplemented with GenChoice semen from the exciting sample sires 1G442 Sergeant and 1G441 Toro.

Rounding out the Colored Breed catalog is the most exciting new Milking Shorthorn bull seen in years.  1M541 Cowboy-P is a polled bull breaking into our lineup with a stellar 439NM$ and 208PTI.  He’ll be in high demand among our Milking Shorthorn member breeders and he’ll have crossover appeal among Red and cross breeding enthusiasts.

As always, the Genex Jersey and Colored Breed catalogs provide our members with one stop shopping for their genetic solutions.  Thanks and Happy Holidays.
 
Written by: Scott Carson
Dairy Procurement Specialist

 

Productive Life calculation changes effect the rankings....


Changes in the calculation of productive life evaluations resulted in lowered proof values, especially for higher ranking genomic-proven sires.  An excellent writeup on this change is available here! 
In summary, genetic correlations used in PL calculations were updated to more accurately reflect culling trends.  The positive correlation with DPR increased (as DPR increases, so does PL) as well as the negative correlations with SCS and size composite (as SCS and body size increase, PL decreases).  Correlations with UDC and FLC are still positive (as UDC & FLC increase, PL increases) but not as strong. 
AIPL looked at how these changes affected the top 100 NM$ genomic-only sires and also the top 100 progeny-proven sires from the August 2012 summary.  December 2012 evaluations for these bulls revealed average decreases of .9 months of PL and 53NM$ for the genomic-only sires as well as a decrease of .4 months of PL and 25NM$ for the progeny-proven sires. 

 

Our New Graduates


What about our New Graduates for the December proofs?

 22 new Holstein sires graduated to domestic active service this week. Headlining is 1HO10396Cabriolet, (pictured right) our new NM$ leader at +955.  An extreme yield and fitness specialist, Cabriolet boasts +1621 PTAM with outstanding components (+62PTAP and +100PTAF), high percents (+.05%F and +.16%P), and +7.4PL.  This Robust son is one of 8 new Genesis MOET program graduates; his VG-85 dam is a full sister to 1HO10225 Bud.                                                                                                                          

Next on our NM$ leader board is 1HO10559 Rainier @ +830.  He continues a pattern of high production outlined in his pedigree: +1581PTAM, +55P, and +108PTAF complemented by +1.0DPR.   He is also a Genesis graduate; one of three brothers in our active lineup from Sharky daughter Deervue-Acres Robin CRI-ET.  His Super brother 1HO10505 Ridott also graduated this week and together they join Sebastian brother 1HO10133 Radisson to show that family really does matter.

1HO10662Feedback is all positive: 805NM$, positive component percentages (+.04%P and +.19%F), +1.9DPR, and 5%SCE.  He’s also our first Erdman son.

1HO10817James*CV is our fourth new bull over 800NM$ and our first opportunity to market a son from a Massey dam—one more illustration of the power and speed of genomics—it was just August of last year when Massey received his first progeny proof.  1HO10817 James*CV continues the production-packed top end of our lineup with +1793PTAM, +58PTAP, and +81PTAF.  Low SCS is his specialty at +2.52.

1HO10648Puzzle provides all genetic solutions needed for a breeding program: a well-rounded 794NM$ bull with plenty of milk (+1800PTAM), protein (55), and fat (61) along with over +2.00 for PTAT and UDC.  At +7.2PL, +1.4DPR, and armed with a promising GenCheck rating, probably the only thing left to figure out is how you will manage to keep up with sales demand!

1HO10644Indy and 1HO10655 Poetry are two more of our 5 new Observer sons (Rainier, Puzzle, & Loyal are the others).  Both are solid performers over 700NM$, +5.0PL, +2.00PTAT, and +2.00UDC levels.  Indy is a Genesis MOET graduate that traces through the Dellia cow family with a little higher DPR at +1.2; Poetry has a VG-86 Earnit dam and is our highest new PTAM graduate at +2040.

Of special mention are 1HO10652 Boxer and 1HO10369 Loyal, a pair of bulls that have been very handy mating sires when pedigree variety is needed--both offer Shottle and Goldwyn free sire stacks.  Boxer is our first Parker son; his dam is a VG-87 Formation Bret from an EX-92 Debut.  Conformation and yield are his specialties with over +120 pounds of combined fat and protein and exceeding +2.00 on UDC, FLC, and PTAT evaluations.  Loyal is another Genesis grad with an Observer x Satire x Lynch sire stack and is our highest new UDC addition at +3.13. 

Written by: Paul Haskins
Dairy Procurement Manager

What about our progeny-proven sires?

Genex is finishing the year strong with 5 out of top 10 NM$ and TPI progeny-proven bulls, or said another way, Genex offers as much at the top of these lists as the rest of the industry COMBINED!
                                                              1HO8784 Freddie                                                              
He is still leading the HERD

1HO8784Freddie is your breed leader for NM$ (+786) and TPI (+2295) while adding over 1500 new milking daughters for a grand total of 2663.  Also more than doubled in number of classified daughters while UDC and PTAT levels continue to climb—currently at +1.55UDC and +1.66PTAT.  Reports from the field consistently indicate that udders and overall conformation are better than expected-- breeder satisfaction is high!

Rounding out our top 5 NM$ bulls is 1HO8777 Awesome at #2 and 720NM$, 1HO9167 O-Style at #3 and 708NM$, 1HO9527 Massey at #5 and 699NM$, and 1HO9192 Hill at #9 and 659NM$.  These 5 bulls now average over 1650 milking daughters in their evaluation and on the average added over 800 new milking daughters this week, or nearly double!

Genex posted an equally strong showing on the TPI list with 4 of the top 5 placings:
#1 Freddie at +2295,
#3 Massey at +2244,
#4 1HO9192 Hill at +2239, and
#5 1HO9167O-Style at +2207. 

1HO2655 Latham debuts at #10 and +2156TPI on the Top 100 TPI list while 1HO8778 Super added nearly 1500 new milking daughters and maintained visibility at #13 and +2143TPI.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season and brisk sales the next four months.  Our lineup has weathered the calculation changes well and our genomic proven offerings have more than demonstrated the ability to become progeny-proven breed leaders.

Written by: Paul Haskins
Dairy Procurement Manager

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Happy Proof Week

Happy Proof Week Everyone! We are working hard here at CRI/Genex to get you all the new proof information as soon as possible! Take a break from your busy day and check out the newest video from the Peterson Farm Brothers, Farmer Style!

ENJOY!

View more of their videos, including "I'm Farming and I Grow It", here: http://www.youtube.com/ThePetersonFarmBros