Captain steers a course to top of daughter-proven list

The appearance of Genosource Captain at the top of the ranking for daughter-proven Holstein sires offers a resounding endorsement to those who put their faith in this bull in his early years. Captain featured as a leading young sire in successive genetic evaluations based on his DNA alone, and now comes through with a convincing lead as his daughters come into milk.

The earliest daughters contributing to these figures are milking in the USA, but UK heifers will shortly join their numbers, increasing the reliability of his Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) over the months ahead.

In this month’s evaluations, published today (4 April) by AHDB, Captain gains a convincing lead, with a PLI of £888. His breeding pattern demonstrates strong production, good feed efficiency (Feed Advantage 249) and a high EnviroCow index (4.5), while his Type Merit increases to 1.93 as daughters start to be classified.

Making significant gains, and climbing into second position is Denovo 14566 Crosby, whose 518 UK milking daughters contribute to his PLI of £719. Notable in his index is excellent Calf Survival at +4.8.

Holding third place is Pine-Tree CW Legacy, whose PLI is £716. An outstanding daughter Fertility Index of +13.7, extreme udder health (-4 Mastitis) and long lifespans (+171 days) give Crosby one of the highest HealthyCow indexes of the breed, at £323.

In equal fourth place with a PLI of £712 are Silverridge V Einstein and Bomaz Monument P, the former being the higher production bull of the two with Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) of 722kg milk and 30.4kg protein. He combines this with good udder health (-24 SCC). Monument fares better on traits such as Calf Survival (+3.3) and Lifespan (+128 days).

Denovo 7899 Archer is another big climber, claiming sixth position, and now with over 550 UK milking daughters demonstrating his high production credentials and earning him a PLI of £709.

Close on his heels is Progenesis Wimbledon (PLI £708) who combines very high milk solids (+0.38% fat and +0.25% protein) with the highest daughter Fertility Index of the top 10, at +15.3.

A newcomer to the proven list in eighth position is Blumenfeld Renegad Ahead, who weighs in with a PLI of £699, and also transmits longer lifespans (+153 days) and better daughter fertility (+10.5) than average for the Holstein breed.

Aardema Pistolero remains in ninth position with a PLI of £698, and rounding off the top 10 are equal placed Westcoast Alcove and Denovo 14744 Ginetta, both with a PLI of £697. Alcove is a specialist production transmitter with PTAs of 1122kg milk, 51.2kg fat and 39.6kg protein. Some 759 UK milking daughters contribute to these figures, also earning him a strong TB Advantage of +3.4. Ginetta shows a balanced proof combining solid production and health.

“As we’ve come to expect, some of the big hitters from the genomic rankings now appear in the daughter-proven figures, and Genosource Captain provides a convincing example of how milking daughters can live up to genomic predictions,” says Marco Winters, head of animal genetics from AHDB.

“UK farmers have demonstrated great confidence in using genomic indexes over the past 10 or more years, and this type of consistency in performance helps vindicate their decisions to put faith in this DNA-based technology,” he says.

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