Captain continues command but Denovo dominates young Holstein sires

Ten newcomers in the top 20 and 10 bulls with the same prefix will arouse interest amongst Holstein breeders in the genomic young sire list published today (1 Dec) by AHDB Dairy. And although Denovo will be celebrating having an impressive, possibly unprecedented, 10 of the top 20 bulls on this Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) ranking, it is Genosource Captain who retains his position as the front-runner with a PLI of £880.

Captain combines high Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) for production (1002kg milk, 48.5kg fat and 34.8kg protein) with superb maintenance feed costs figures (-15) as well as high daughter Fertility Index (11.6). To top it off he has a high Lameness Advantage (3.2) and a Type Merit (TM) of 1.52, giving him widespread appeal amongst a range of dairy producers.

Holding on to his second position, just as in the August release, is Peak AltaPlinko (PLI £859). This son of Progenesis Marius and maternal grandson of former number one daughter-proven Holstein, Bomaz AltaTopshot, is a high protein transmitter (41.6kg) with good maintenance feed efficiency (-6). 

Newcomers since the August release are the third and fourth ranking Siemers Brave (PLI £830) and Denovo 3303 Citizen (PLI £817). Brave is the highest milk bull in the top 20 (1188kg) as well as the breed leader for protein (42kg). Citizen transmits excellent udder health (-21 SCC, -2 Mastitis), with good daughter lifespans (+162 days) and fertility (FI 11.8). He is also the highest ranking of the 10 bulls in the top 20 bearing the Denovo prefix, itself a joint venture between ABS Global and De-Su Holsteins.  

In fifth, up from ninth position, is Denovo 15826 Knight with a PLI of £808 and TM of 1.9. He is the first of no less than four De-Su 14222 Kenobi sons in the top 10, the others being Kenmore, Targaryen and Kahuna.

New entry in sixth place is Bomaz Episode (PLI £807). A tremendous components bull (+0.33% fat, +0.13% protein), he also transmits good daughter fertility (+11).

In seventh place is Denovo 15848 Kenmore whose strong calf survival prediction (+3.2) and good udder health (-23 SCC, -2 Mastitis) contribute to his PLI of £806.

Ranking eighth is FB Kenobi Targaryen, also with good calf survival (+2.9) and a PLI of £790.

Ninth place goes to Denovo 14566 Crosby (PLI £783), the best udder health bull in the top 10 with -27 SCC and -3 Mastitis. Born in October 2017, he is, remarkably, the sire of Citizen (DOB 4/8/19), ranked in fourth place.

Rounding off the top 10 is Denovo 15855 Kahuna, with the highest predicted daughter lifespan (+174 days) and TM (1.89) in the top 10.

Six further new entries in the top 20 are 11th placed OCD Renegade Lunser (PLI £781), Denovo 15949 Edison (PLI £778 and the highest fat transmitter of the breed at 57.9kg and +0.33%), Denovo 16197 Gonzaga (PLI £777, -15 Maintenance), S-S-I PR Renegade (PLI £775, FI 12.6), Denovo 16072 Elway (PLI £773, -3 Mastitis) and Denovo 3159 Gander (PLI £772, FI 13.1).

Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB Dairy says: “With half of the top 20 young sires being new since the August release, the list once again emphasises the speed with which progress is being made in the Holstein breed.

“The top £PLI bulls transmit a good mixture of high yields or high components to suit various milk contracts and combine these with strong daughter health and fertility.

“The majority of these sires will also favourably reduce maintenance costs, as indicated by the reduced maintenance figures averaging -2 across the top 20 sires. With feed savings and environmental credentials high on the agenda, these sires will be able to make a worthwhile contribution to the efficiency of UK herds.”

A table of the top 20 available Holstein genomic young sires ranked on the latest PLI (December 2020)appears below. Type Merit is supplied by Holstein UK.

 

Table 1: Top 20 Holstein bulls with genomic indexes ranked on Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) December 2020

Rank	£PLI	Bull name	£PLI Rel%	Milk kg	Fat kg	Ptn kg	Fat %	Ptn %	SCC	Mast	LA	CS	LS	FI	dCE %	DCI	Maint	TB  Adv	TM	Sire x maternal  grandsire	Supplier GB/NI
1	880	GENOSOURCE CAPTAIN	63	1002	48.5	34.8	0.09	0.02	-13	-2	3.2	1.0	153	11.6	0.4	0.6	-15	1.7	1.52	Charl x Sabre	CBL
2	859	PEAK ALTAPLINKO	64	1066	46.3	41.6	0.04	0.07	-17	-1	2.6	1.3	95	5.9	0.7	1.6	-6	0.1	0.62	Marius x Altashot	ALT/AIS
3	830	SIEMERS BRAVE-ET	63	1188	42.5	42.0	-0.05	0.03	-12	0	1.4	1.0	113	9.2	0.3	0.9	-8	0.3	0.98	Timberlake x Trajectory	SMX
4	817	DENOVO 3303 CITIZEN-ET	63	885	47.6	29.3	0.13	0.00	-21	-2	2.6	2.2	162	11.8	0.1	0.5	2	0.4	1.29	Crosby x Spectre	GEN
5	808	DENOVO 15826 KNIGHT	63	711	42.4	30.9	0.15	0.08	-18	-1	1.7	1.4	159	5.5	1.1	0.6	-13	1.5	1.90	Kenobi x Raiden	GEN
6	807	BOMAZ EPISODE-ET	63	564	51.4	29.9	0.33	0.13	-13	-2	1.2	0.8	116	11.0	0.4	1.4	9	2.9	0.61	Entity x Altarobson	GEN
7	806	DENOVO 15848 KENMORE	63	900	39.3	34.0	0.03	0.05	-23	-2	2.0	3.2	125	7.3	0.3	0.9	-2	1.6	1.48	Kenobi x Frazzled	GEN
8	790	FB KENOBI TARGARYEN	64	971	35.6	38.8	-0.04	0.07	-19	-1	1.4	2.9	104	8.2	-0.1	2.2	5	1.1	0.87	Kenobi x Jedi	GEN
9	783	DENOVO 14566 CROSBY	66	976	41.3	32.4	0.02	0.00	-27	-3	3.1	2.6	128	5.1	-0.9	1.4	-3	2.2	1.02	Charley x Rubicon	GEN
10	782	DENOVO 15855 KAHUNA	63	680	43.2	28.5	0.18	0.07	-17	-1	2.2	0.9	174	6.3	1.1	0.0	-9	1.9	1.89	Kenobi x Medley	GEN
11	781	OCD RENEGADE LUNSER	63	736	47.3	31.5	0.20	0.08	-15	-1	1.9	1.8	119	5.4	-0.3	0.2	0	0.7	1.88	Renegade x Brennan	WWS
12	779	WINSTAR KAHLUA	63	774	35.1	30.0	0.05	0.05	-18	-2	2.8	0.6	165	8.6	1.3	-0.2	-9	2.5	1.99	Kenobi x Medley	GEN
13	778	DENOVO 15949 EDISON-ET	63	713	57.9	26.3	0.33	0.03	-13	-2	2.5	1.3	128	6.0	0.4	1.1	1	0.6	1.13	Entity x Spectre	GEN
14	777	DENOVO 16197 GONZAGA-ET	63	430	42.5	24.6	0.29	0.12	-11	0	1.9	1.6	137	11.0	-0.1	-0.1	-15	0.2	1.74	Godiva x Samuri	GEN
15	775	S-S-I PR RENEGADE	64	938	46.5	36.8	0.10	0.06	-10	0	1.4	-0.1	113	12.6	-1.4	-1.4	18	1.6	1.49	Jaltaoak x Millington	WWS
16	774	PROGENESIS BANKSY	63	1026	40.5	38.8	-0.01	0.05	-19	-1	0.8	1.4	125	5.2	-0.6	1.3	3	2.1	0.93	Marius x Imax	SMX
16	774	DENOVO 3150 GENERATE	63	370	39.9	28.1	0.29	0.18	-19	-2	1.9	2.6	98	10.4	-0.1	1.1	10	2.5	1.25	Glitz x Verona	GEN
18	773	DENOVO 16072 ELWAY-ET	63	606	52.2	25.5	0.31	0.06	-23	-3	2.1	2.3	153	3.3	0.1	1.4	1	-0.3	1.11	Entity x Achiever	GEN
19	772	KOEPON RAPTOR	64	281	34.0	20.2	0.27	0.13	-21	-2	3.3	1.8	198	12.8	0.5	1.4	-1	0.3	1.40	Altalawson x Altatopshot	GEN
19	772	DENOVO 3159 GANDER	63	414	35.5	26.3	0.22	0.15	-17	-1	2.1	1.9	134	13.1	-0.4	0.8	-6	3.5	1.38	Glitz x Verona	GEN

Source: AHDB Dairy.  AIS = AI Services; ALT = Alta; CBL = Cogent Breeding; GEN = Genus ABS; SMX = Semex; WWS = World Wide Sires UK. £PLI = Profitable Lifetime Index; Rel = Reliability; SCC = Somatic Cell Count; Mast = Mastitis; LA = Lameness Advantage; CS = Calf Survival; LS = Lifespan; FI = Fertility Index; dCE% = direct Calving Ease; DCI = Dairy Carcase Index; Maint = Maintenance; TB Adv = TB Advantage; TM = Type Merit.