Captain maintains lead while new graduates join proven sires

Captain maintains lead while new graduates join proven sires

A continued strong lead by the Holstein sire, Genosource Captain, plus two new graduates in the top 10 are features of the daughter-proven Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) ranking, published today (2 April, 2024) by AHDB.

Captain’s PLI climbs to £874, despite the impact of the rolling base change which takes place each April, as he continues to excel in Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) for production, including 1187kg milk, 49.5kg protein and 37.6kg fat. Combining this with outstanding Feed Advantage (289), he earns his stripes from close to 500 daughters milking in the UK and many more internationally. Captain’s Type Merit of 1.85 also ranks him high on the conformation lists.

Climbing a place to second is Westcoast River (PLI £778), with 329 UK milking daughters. River has one of the best HealthyCow ratings at £286, thanks to outstanding udder health (-32 SCC) and higher daughter fertility (Fertility Index 10).

Ranking even higher for daughter fertility is third placed Aardema Pistolero, with a 12.3 FI. He too scores well for HealthyCow at £275 and has a PLI of £722. Both River and Pistolero are sons of Westcoast Guarantee, a former number one £PLI sire himself.

The highest-ranking new graduate moves into fourth position in the form of Peak AltaZazzle son, Winstar Greycup. His PLI of £717 reflects a well-balanced profile, including high fat PTAs, at 40.4kg and +0.19%.

Fifth to seventh places are occupied by three De-Su 14222 Kenobi sons, the first being FB Kenobi Targaryen, with a PLI of £710 and excellent protein transmission (36.2kg).

Next comes Denovo 15567 Kimmel (PLI £706), who makes strong gains as he adds UK daughters and offers a high milk PTA at 969kg. And the third Kenobi son is Bomaz Kettle who transmits high milk solids and has PLI of £703.

Peak Mauney climbs to eighth position (PLI £701), with exceptional daughter Fertility Index (14.3), a high HealthyCow (£273) and favourable transmission of digital dermatitis resistance.

However, the best Fertility Index, at 14.4, is for ninth placed Progenesis Wimbledon, who also excels for milk quality, at +0.33% fat and +0.24% protein. He shares this position with the final new graduate in the top 10, Badger SSI Big Al Newman, both earning a PLI of £695. Newman has the best Lifespan Index of the top bulls (+198 days), and also the best HealthyCow at £298.

“The leading proven sires demonstrate a superb balance of traits including those which will confer health, efficiency and high production on to their daughters,” says Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB. “This is so important in an economic and political climate which demands a low carbon footprint and high standards of animal welfare alongside profitability, all of which are being demonstrated through the performance of actual daughters of these sires.

“The fact that these gains can be made through breeding is not to be overlooked, as this is the cheapest and most permanent and long-term method of making progress,” he says.

For the complete list of available bulls, please visit the AHDB website.

A table of the top 20 available Holstein bulls with a daughter proof ranked on the latest PLI (April 2024) appears below.

 

TABLE 1: TOP 20 DAUGHTER-PROVEN HOLSTEIN BULLS RANKED ON PROFITABLE LIFETIME INDEX (£PLI) APRIL 2024

 

Rank	£PLI	Bull name	£PLI Rel%	Milk kg	Fat kg	Ptn kg	Fat %	Ptn %	SCC	Mast	LAdv	CS	LS	FI	GL	TB Adv	£HC	Feed Adv	Env Cow	TM	Sire	Supplier GB/NI
1	874	GENOSOURCE CAPTAIN	91	1187	49.5	37.6	0.02	-0.02	-1	0	1.7	2.8	104	5	-3	0.8	180	289	4.6	1.85	Charl	CBL
2	778	WESTCOAST RIVER	93	805	33.4	30.8	0.01	0.05	-32	-2	2.3	2.3	140	10	1	3.6	286	70	3.4	1.25	Guarantee	SMX
3	722	AARDEMA PISTOLERO	73	539	26.5	25.2	0.06	0.08	-21	-2	1.2	2.6	149	12.3	0	1.4	275	109	3.3	0.21	Guarantee	SMX
4	717	WINSTAR GREYCUP	69	588	40.4	27.8	0.19	0.09	-14	-1	2.2	1.1	122	7	-2	2.1	162	162	3.8	-0.36	AltaZazzle	SMX
5	710	FB KENOBI TARGARYEN	86	729	26.3	36.2	-0.03	0.14	-25	-1	1.6	1.1	98	3.1	-3	3.2	160	66	3.3	0.96	Kenobi	GEN
6	706	DENOVO 15567 KIMMEL	84	969	39.3	35.9	0.01	0.04	-17	0	0.8	1	131	5.5	-2	3.7	143	41	3.5	-0.3	Kenobi	GEN
7	703	BOMAZ KETTLE	82	675	45.6	34.9	0.21	0.14	-10	-1	0.8	1.7	64	-2.6	-3	0.3	47	110	3.7	-0.47	Kenobi	GEN
8	701	PEAK MAUNEY	85	382	30.9	21.3	0.18	0.1	-13	-1	2.2	2.1	134	14.3	0	2.1	273	57	3	0.46	AltaRobert	UKD/AIS
9	695	PROGENESIS WIMBLEDON	89	98	31.7	23.6	0.33	0.24	-20	-2	2.1	-0.3	92	14.4	-3	2.6	233	-38	2.6	0.34	AltaRobson	SMX
9	695	BADGER SSI BIG AL NEWMAN	69	453	32.8	15.8	0.17	0.01	-24	-3	1.6	2	198	8.6	1	2.1	298	163	3.5	1.33	Big Al	WWS
11	692	WINSTAR GRAZIANO	70	323	40.2	21.6	0.32	0.13	-16	-1	1.8	1.9	98	8.9	-1	3.4	188	134	3.3	-0.26	AltaZazzle	SMX
12	691	DENOVO 7899 ARCHER	96	762	41.7	35.4	0.12	0.11	-7	2	3.1	2.1	12	-2.4	-1	2.1	56	144	3.4	1.45	Achiever	GEN
12	691	STGEN BETTERMENT	75	619	36.2	26	0.13	0.06	-20	-2	2.4	-0.9	113	7.1	-3	1.2	184	128	3.4	0.26	AltaZarek	CBL
14	690	DENOVO 406136 DONNELLY	72	524	45	28.9	0.27	0.13	-18	-2	1.4	1.9	61	-0.9	-3	0.3	124	51	3.1	0.82	Merrimac	GEN
15	689	SILVERRIDGE V EINSTEIN	90	767	37.3	31.9	0.07	0.07	-22	-1	1	-0.1	116	4.7	-2	2.2	165	12	3.1	1.32	Topnotch	SMX
15	689	TOPSTONE	87	975	32.1	32	-0.08	0	-18	-2	1.8	1.1	110	5.1	-3	-0.4	189	82	3.1	1.32	AltaTopshot	SYN/WFE
17	684	DENOVO 15826 KNIGHT	84	595	27.3	26.5	0.04	0.08	-18	0	2	1.8	140	2.2	-2	1.8	196	135	3.4	1.71	Kenobi	GEN
18	674	DENOVO 14744 GINETTA	92	836	46.5	34.8	0.14	0.08	-2	1	0.8	2.3	52	5.1	-2	2.7	86	35	3.2	0.32	Guarantee	GEN
19	669	WINSTAR AMBITION	75	784	46.2	31.9	0.16	0.07	-2	1	0.2	2.2	61	1.1	-1	0.5	64	117	3.5	0.36	Crimson	GEN
20	665	WESTCOAST GUARANTEE	93	326	23.3	24.6	0.12	0.16	-27	-4	0.7	3.4	95	6.9	-1	1.7	209	141	3.1	-0.88	Boastful	SMX

Source: AHDB Dairy. AIS = AI Services; CBL= Cogent Breeding; GEN = Genus ABS; SMX = Semex; SYN = Synetics; UKD = UK Sires Direct; WFE = Western Farm Enterprises; WWS = World Wide Sires. £PLI = Profitable Lifetime Index; SCC = Somatic Cell Count; Mast = Mastitis; LAdv = Lameness Advantage; CS = Calf Survival; LS = Lifespan; FI = Fertility Index; GL = Gestation Length; TB Adv = TB Advantage; £HC = HealthyCow; Feed Adv = Feed Advantage; Env Cow = EnviroCow; TM = Type Merit.