Genosource Captain leads as UK daughters added to his tally

Genosource Captain has been a long-term leader within the Holstein breed both as a young, genomic sire and now that he has daughters of his own. With 180 milking in the UK adding to his international figures, he weighs in at the top of the pack in December’s genetic evaluations, published today (5 December) by AHDB.

With a PLI of £814, Captain establishes himself as a leading production bull, with 1219kg Predicted Transmitting Ability (PTA) for milk. He also has good ratings for Calf Survival (2.4), and is the leading bull in these rankings for FeedAdvantage, meaning producers can except efficiency of feed conversion from his daughters.

Second place is taken by FB Kenobi Targaryen (PLI £808), who graduates from the young genomic sire listings, with 134 UK milking daughters contributing to his figures. His high protein PTA of 39.6kg confirms his genomic prediction, and he’s a big somatic cell count improver at SCC -25.

Even more impressive for udder health is Westcoast River, whose tremendous SCC Index of -30 and Mastitis at -3 contribute to his PLI of £789. With over 100 new UK milking daughters bolstering his figures, he rises to third position and has a Lifespan Index of +134 days, outstanding Fertility Index (16.1), and earns a HealthyCow of £337.

Bomaz Kettle now ranks fourth (PLI £762), strengthening his impressive fat transmission as more daughters come into milk, to reach 50.8kg, the second highest figure amongst the available proven sires.

However, the top-spot for this component is taken by Denovo 14744 Ginetta, whose PTA of 51kg fat helps to earn him a PLI of £759. Ginetta also rates well for TB Advantage (2.9), meaning daughters will have better resistance than average to the disease.

Silverridge V Einstein makes his way into the top 10 again, now ranking sixth with a PLI of £750.

Now with his first UK milking daughters, Progenesis Wimbledon receives a PLI of £721, earning him seventh place. Wimbledon transmits exceptional milk components (+0.31% fat, +0.24% protein), and high daughter fertility (14.2).

Climbing to eighth is Aardema Pistolero with a favourable Lifespan Index (+128 days), helping earn him a PLI of £712. This places him just ahead of Peak AltaPlinko at £710, who holds on to his ranking in the top 10, now with UK daughters contributing to his evaluation.

Rounding off the top 10 is new entry, Genosource Johnboy (PLI £706), who graduates from the young bull listing and has the highest Type Merit of the top 10 at 2.29.

Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB, says: “The majority of producers now use high £PLI genomic sires for breeding dairy replacements, but these proven sires affirm the good sense of that choice. 

“Although it’s usually around fours year later that young, genomic sires graduate to the proven ranking, they are doing so with continuity across their daughter performance figures. And while many producers may not choose to return to them once they are daughter-proven, these older bulls, which have stood the test of time, should give producers confidence in their use of genomic predictions on which to base their breeding choices.”

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 (December 2023) appears below. Type Merit is supplied by Holstein UK.

TABLE 1: TOP 20 DAUGHTER-PROVEN HOLSTEIN BULLS RANKED ON PROFITABLE LIFETIME INDEX (£PLI) DECEMBER 2023

 

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	814	GENOSOURCE CAPTAIN	85	1219	45.9	36.6	-0.03	-0.04	2	-2	0.5	2.4	122	5	-3	2.1	174	245	4.4	1.5	Charl	CBL
2	808	FB KENOBI TARGARYEN	82	940	38.2	39.6	0	0.09	-25	-1	1	1	98	4.8	-3	1.6	155	109	3.8	0.35	Kenobi	GEN
3	789	WESTCOAST RIVER	90	797	32	28.6	0	0.03	-30	-3	2.3	1.7	134	16.1	1	2.3	337	51	3.1	1.41	Guarantee	SMX
4	762	BOMAZ KETTLE	78	741	50.8	37.5	0.23	0.15	-15	-1	0.7	1.6	61	-4	-3	0.2	46	125	4	-0.31	Kenobi	GEN
5	759	DENOVO 14744 GINETTA	89	832	51	35.6	0.19	0.09	-9	0	1.3	2.1	88	7	-1	2.9	150	4	3.4	0.68	Guarantee	GEN
6	750	SILVERRIDGE V EINSTEIN	88	897	41.7	35.6	0.06	0.07	-22	-2	1.2	-1.4	98	6.6	-2	1.9	164	35	3.4	1.16	Topnotch	SMX
7	721	PROGENESIS WIMBLEDON	86	142	32.1	24.9	0.31	0.24	-24	-2	3	-0.6	101	14.2	-3	2.3	243	-34	2.8	0.25	Altarobson	SMX
8	712	AARDEMA PISTOLERO	73	522	27.8	25.2	0.08	0.09	-21	-2	1.6	2.4	128	10.3	0	1.3	254	112	3.2	0.37	Guarantee	SMX
9	710	PEAK ALTAPLINKO	81	780	39.7	33.6	0.09	0.09	-15	-2	1.8	-2.9	64	8.6	-5	0.8	124	137	3.5	-0.02	Marius	AIS
10	706	GENOSOURCE JOHNBOY	78	794	39	35.2	0.08	0.1	-18	1	0.8	2.7	76	0.2	-1	1.2	139	62	3.3	2.29	Klutch	CBL
11	698	TOPSTONE	85	971	33.7	31.6	-0.06	0	-21	-2	2.1	0.7	113	4.6	-3	0.4	195	81	3.2	1.59	AltaTopshot	MGN/WFE
12	696	DENOVO 7899 ARCHER	95	774	40.6	35	0.11	0.11	-8	2	2.9	2.2	37	1.1	-1	2.3	100	85	3.2	1.68	Achiever	GEN
12	696	PEAK ALTACRAZED	74	411	32.6	23	0.19	0.11	-27	-2	1.3	0.6	76	7.4	-4	2.2	203	150	3.1	0.59	AltaCabot	ALT
14	694	WINSTAR AMBITION	74	799	47.1	32.4	0.17	0.07	-3	0	-0.2	2	73	1.7	-1	0.6	85	104	3.5	0.56	Crimson	GEN
15	693	DENOVO 14566 CROSBY	95	842	41.9	30.1	0.09	0.03	-16	0	1.4	4.8	46	3.3	0	2.6	137	115	3.1	-0.35	Charley	GEN
16	690	PEAK MAUNEY	72	484	29.7	23.6	0.12	0.09	-16	0	2.1	2	116	14.7	0	1.8	256	63	2.9	0.49	Altarobert	UKD/AIS
17	680	WESTCOAST GUARANTEE	93	299	23.9	24	0.14	0.16	-29	-4	0.9	2.9	107	8.6	-1	2.1	229	135	3.2	-0.8	Boastful	SMX
17	680	DENOVO 16099 TACOMA	71	894	40.1	29.2	0.05	0	-24	-1	1.2	1.4	85	2.4	0	1.6	139	151	3.4	0.23	Crosby	GEN
19	678	HEIDIFARM ALTAGIVEAWAY	71	735	36	28.5	0.07	0.05	-22	-1	1.4	0.9	43	4.9	0	2.5	148	163	3.1	0.68	Gamechanger	ALT
20	676	COOKIECUTTER HELIOGEN	70	707	26.8	23.4	-0.02	0	-28	-3	1.7	0.5	156	11.6	-2	1.5	276	86	3	0.52	Legacy	WWS

Source: AHDB Dairy. AIS = AI Services; ALT = Alta; CBL= Cogent Breeding; GEN = Genus ABS; MGN = Mastergen; SMX = Semex; UKD = UK Sires Direct; 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.