Accelerated Genetics adds balance and power to Holstein lineup Accelerated Genetics lineup continues to impress Holstein breeders worldwide and now has added new sires after the February 2007 dairy sire proofs. New PACE graduates 014HO03964 BOB, 014HO04244 GLASCOW, 014HO04229 WES, 014HO04250 BIZ, and 014HO4213 GEORGE along with Winner’s Circle graduate 202HO00231 VELVET add to the strength of the lineup.

New PACE graduate 014HO03964 BOB graduates with an impressive Net Merit of +513 NM$, giving Accelerated Genetics another sire over +500 NM$. This Ricecrest Marshall son ranks high at +1789M, +90F with +.09%F, +68P with +.05%P as well as +1780 TPI. Accelerated Genetics sire analyst Gregg Topp says about Bob, “He sires angularity with high, wide rear udders and makes a great mating on daughters of Boss Iron, Pyrex, Lon, Fired and Juror Ford.”

014HO04244 GLASCOW is a balanced genetic package at +384 NM$. This PACE graduate is an Orion son from an Excellent Emory, is +1042M, +42F with +.02%F, +36P with +.02%P as well as +1.30 PTAT, +1.45 UDC and +2.75 FLC. “His daughters have outstanding foot angle; high, wide rear udders; snug fore udders; and deep udder cleft. He will mate well on daughters of Galleon, Titanic, Roy and Dutch Boy,” Topp says.

High type is always in demand and Winner’s Circle graduate 202HO00231 VELVET will create quite a stir with his eye-catching type pattern. He graduates with 67 daughters in 38 herds in his MACE proof for type of +2.26 PTAT, +2.71 UDC and +0.69 FLC. “His daughters excel in stature, dairy form, body depth and thurl width,” Topp says. “Velvet’s udder linears are phenomenal, being high and wide in the rear, extremely shallow with super cleft and ideal teat size and placement.” VELVET’s pedigree is just as impressive as he is, being a Silky Gibson son from an EX-92-4E Comestar Leader and with an Excellent Hanover-Hill Raider grandam. Also, VELVET ranks high with a PL of +3.7 and sires high components.

Alta launches FutureStar program
Alta is making the company’s future genetic stars available today with the launch of the FutureStar program. The economic value of milking daughters generated by the FutureStar program is projected to exceed $279 per cow compared to herd mates of breed average sires. Bull’s in the program will be introduced to the market for $18, starting with February proofs.

Not to be confused by their “young sire” status, FutureStar program bulls differentiate themselves on the basis of known fertility and calving evaluations, plus parent average data from only those sires that have shown stability in evaluations through second crop.

“Any company can sell young sire semen. The difference with FutureStar is that we know and have the data to back up the extreme fertility and calving ease these bulls will deliver,” Alta’s Product & Program Marketing Manager Paul Meyer says. “And the bulls included in the FutureStar program are exclusively tested in the Alta Advantage® program, which means they have an ability to deliver in the most competitive conditions.”

The Alta Advantage® program is Alta’s unique young sire testing program in the U.S. The company partners with 175 dairies nationwide that maintain average milking herd sizes of 850 cows to test genetics in progressive, large-herd, bias-free testing environments. “Thanks to the Advantage® program, our clients aren’t asked to speculate on the quality of product they are buying.”

FutureStar bulls must meet exacting criteria to qualify for the program, including:

•Alta Advantage® tested

•Extreme fertility ranking using actual Advantage® herd preg check data

•Calving ease rating of ? 9 percent using actual Advantage® herd calving data

•Pedigree prediction for health traits like productive life and daughter fertility thank rank among Alta’s best.

“FutureStar bulls are going to get more cows pregnant, minimize calving difficulties and are expected to generate milking daughters that will require the least amount of management themselves in the future,” Meyer says. “It’s exactly what progressive dairy managers tell us they want.”

Meyer says dairy managers who want to get cows pregnant, reduce labor and cost per calving, and maximize the return on the investment to create cows that are productive and trouble-free, they should add a FutureStar to their roster.

Genex releases sire evaluation for conception in synch programs
In February, Genex Cooperative, Inc. revealed a unique sire conception evaluation. Genex SynchSmart™ is the new, revolutionary reproductive management tool ranking sires for their conception ability in synchronized females, or females given hormonal treatments to induce ovulation.

The SynchSmart evaluation, available only through Genex, shows the expected difference in a sire’s conception performance. SynchSmart values indicate the expected change in conception rate when using a particular sire on synchronized females. For example, semen from a sire at +3.0 SynchSmart is expected to conceive 3 percent more often in a timed A.I. program than a sire at +0.0 SynchSmart. Currently, Genex active sires range in SynchSmart values from +3.0 to -1.5.

A 1 percent increase in conception rate leads to decreased days open and increased pregnancies.

Genex research shows each one- point increase in SynchSmart or one percent increase in conception rate is worth $5 per semen unit purchased. For example, if considering between two bulls that are equivalent in genetic merit, assume that a straw of semen from a bull with a +2.0 SynchSmart ranking is worth $5 more than a straw from a bull with a +1.0 SynchSmart ranking.

SynchSmart evaluations are the result of real breedings which have shown real differences between sires.

Daily, over 400 Genex inseminators record a total of about 5,000 breedings, and each breeding record is included in the cooperative’s extensive reproductive data set. This powerful database allows innovative, proprietary statistical models to be used to evaluate and rank sires.

From this database of Genex inseminations, Genex Research Geneticist Dr. Gamal Abdel-Azim evaluated 1.6 million services by breeding method (timed artificial insemination or non-timed A.I.) to statistically determine sire values for SynchSmart. The difference in fertility ranking was found to be very significant.

The results of the SynchSmart ranking were confirmed through analysis of actual breedings recorded in on-farm management systems. Statistical analysis of Genex breeding records and analysis of actual breedings on the farm were consistent and confirmed that higher SynchSmart bulls create more pregnancies when used on synchronized females.

ABS releases 17 new sires
ABS Global added 17 world-class new sires to its active lineup with the release of the February 2007 sire summary data. The graduates included 14 exceptional Holsteins and three outstanding Jerseys. Details about five of these new offerings are listed here.

29HO11054 Mayval ACCENT-ET*TL*TV hails from a long line of high producing, high butterfat cows as his dam, grand dam and sisters have all tested from 4.6 percent to 5.0 percent butterfat on excellent milk records. ACCENT daughters are great uddered cows with exceptionally high, wide rear udders and strong fore udder attachments. With a low Somatic Cell Score, favorable Daughter Pregnancy Rate and high Productive Life, ACCENT is an ideal bull to use in commercially managed operations as his daughters are hard-working cows that both produce and reproduce.

29HO11123 Dirigo ANDERS-ET*TL*TV is sired by Juror Ford and backed by a strong cow family with 10 generations of cows scored VG or EX. In addition, ANDERS is from the same maternal line as popular ABS sire 29HO8338 Wil-Hart ALVIN-ET. With +2.45 Udder Composite, ANDERS sires outstanding young cows that have excellent udder attachments, a deep seam and great teat placement.

29HO11239 Hunsberger AVALANCHE*TL*TV transmits excellent production and health and management traits provided by his unique sire stack of Elation x Amel. AVALANCHE is a rock-solid sire (100 daughters in 60 herds) that will increase milk volume (+1835M) and lower Somatic Cell Scores (2.81). Daughters track straight from the rear and have an ideal leg when viewed from the side and a deep heel.

94HO11035 Brilea BARRICK-ET*TL*TV is a graduate from the ABS Canada/St. Jacobs ABC Cornerstone Program. BARRICK hails from a famous cow family as his third dam is the world-renowned Snow-N Denises Dellia EX-95. BARRICK sires balanced, dairy cows that stand on a solid set of feet and legs. Daughters possess shallow udders with superb fore and rear udder attachments. BARRICK can be used in heifer pens as he has a low calving ease score (6 percent).

29HO11056 End-Road Marshall BASIC*TL*TV increases both lifetime production and profitability through his high milk production (+2033 PTAM), low Somatic Cell Score (2.97) and high Productive Life (+2.0). BASIC hails from the same maternal line as popular ABS sire 29HO10124 End-Road Pvf BOLIVER-ET. BASIC daughters have well attached udders with a defined cleft.

Select Sires delivers HealthMark
Dairy producers know that keeping cows healthy and in the herd is crucial to improving the bottom line. Because of this, considering genetic values for somatic cell score (SCS), daughter pregnancy rate (DPR) and productive life (PL) when choosing A.I. sires is becoming increasingly more important. But these traits haven’t always been easy to predict or sort for … until now.

Through advances in DNA technology and a synergistic partnership with IGENITY®, a business unit of Merial, Select Sires is proud to become the first A.I. organization to identify a category of sires, designated HealthMark™, that combines Predicted Transmitting Ability (PTA) data for health and fertility traits with genetic marker data.

“To help dairy producers zero in on balanced health trait bulls, Select Sires has developed HealthMark as an indicator of sires that transmit above- average performance in SCS, DPR and PL,” said Chuck Sattler, vice president and manager of genetic programs for Select Sires.

Bulls that qualify for the HealthMark designation, including 27 Holstein sires and five Jersey bulls, have been identified in the February sire summary materials. HealthMark sires must score above average in all three health trait areas (SCS, DPR and PL) to qualify for this designation. Information from the bulls’ IGENITY profiles, which include DNA markers for productive life and dairy form, are also considered. The IGENITY profile provides extra information about each sire’s ability to transmit positive health traits.

Sires that carry the HealthMark designation include new releases 7HO7683 Laclar Mtoto ANANDO and 7JE707 MVF Maximus JUAN-ET, in addition to 7HO7536 COLDSPRINGs Kenyon 9118-ET, 7HO6417 O-Bee MANfred Justice-ET, 9HO2575 Peckenstein Form BRET-ET, 7JE712 BW AWARD, 7JE683 Jenks Paramount PROMISE-ET and more. Visit www.selectsires.com for more details about the HealthMark designation and for a complete list of sires.

IPS posts impressive gains with February sire proofs
International Protein Sires (IPS) added three new proven sires resulting from February’s sire summary release.

The first addition is Roumare, the highest type son of Jocko Besn at +2.30 and +1784 TPI. The next new bull is Sleepy-Hollow Max of LDF, the BW Marshall son from Nunesdale Elton Kismet (VG-88-GMD). LDF has a laudable type proof with a +1572 TPI. The third newcomer is Crest-View-Acres Twist, a type specialist sired by Durham from Crest-View-Acres Luke Tatum (EX-93-GMD). PD