Stability and UK daughters bolster proven Holstein indexes

Stability at the top of the proven Holstein rankings sees Westcoast Guarantee hold on to the number one position in the Profitable Lifetime Index rankings, published today (1 Dec), by AHDB Dairy. With a PLI of £697 Guarantee transmits excellent udder health (-27 SCC, -4 Mastitis) and strong calf survival (+3).

From the same herd, Westcoast Yamaska remains in second position (PLI £672) with strong Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) for fat and protein percentages (+0.22% fat, +0.14% protein) and 1.9 Type Merit.

A former number one proven sire, Bomaz AltaTopshot takes equal third position (PLI £655), now with 268 UK daughters contributing to his figures. He transmits high yields, most notably for protein (32.7kg), and has the best Lameness Advantage in the top 10 at +3.6.

Equal third ranking is the high fat producer, Welcome Silver Griff with 46.6kg and 0.23% fat. 

Two bulls also tie for fifth position, both with PLIs of £651. Both View-Holme Littlerock and new entrant,Bomaz Damien Kanzo transmit good daughter Lifespan Indexes (+153 and +156 days respectively), and their calves are predicted to be easily born (direct calving ease, 0.6 and 0.8 respectively).

Hoanster Zanzibar now ranks seventh, with a high daughter Fertility Index of 13.6 and good Calf Survival at +3 and a PLI of £648.

Moving up to eighth position is Seagull-Bay-MJ Applejax (PLI £645), now with nearly 2,000 UK milking daughter contributing to his high reliability figures. He transmits outstanding daughter fertility (FI 18) and a high Type Merit of 2.07. He is the second son of Cogent Supershot in the top 10 proven sires list, alongside his paternal half-brother, AltaTopshot.

The equal ninth ranking Stantons Close up and Endco Supreme, complete the top 10, with PLIs of £640. 

Marco Winters, head of animal genetics for AHDB Dairy comments: “Producers using Holsteins will find a wealth of choice within the breed, as it continues to make rapid genetic improvement, particularly for health and fitness traits.

“It is encouraging to see so many bulls near the top of this list which have daughters milking in the UK, indicating how this country’s dairy farmers are making good use of young sires at the earliest opportunity when they were offered with genomic indexes.

“Eight of the top 10 have daughters milking in UK herds, which is a credit both to UK producers and the genomic evaluation system through which the bulls have graduated.”

A table of the top 20 available Holstein bulls with a daughter proof ranked on the latest PLI (December 2020)appears below. Type Merit is supplied by Holstein UK.

Table 1: Top 20 daughter-proven Holstein bulls ranked on Profitable Lifetime I (£PLI) December 2020

Rank	£PLI	Rel %	Bull name	Milk  kg	Fat  kg	Ptn  Kg	Fat %	Ptn %	SCC	Mast	LA	CS	LS	FI	dCE %	DCI	Maint	TB Adv	TM	Sire	Supplier GB/NI
1	697	81	WESTCOAST GUARANTEE	718	27.4	27.2	-0.02	0.04	-27	-4	1.8	3.0	104	12.2	-0.4	0.4	-12	0.2	-0.50	Boastful	SMX
2	672	76	WESTCOAST YAMASKA	412	35.3	26.0	0.22	0.14	-10	-2	1.6	1.7	101	9.2	-1.2	0.8	11	5.0	1.90	Afterburn	SMX
3	655	92	BOMAZ ALTATOPSHOT	985	33.6	32.7	-0.06	0.00	-19	-2	3.6	1.1	98	1.5	-0.6	3.6	-7	-1.8	0.50	Supershot	ALT/AIS
3	655	83	WELCOME SILVER GRIFF	653	46.6	29.4	0.23	0.09	7	1	2.1	1.4	58	7.6	-0.6	0.1	4	1.5	1.40	Silver	WWS
5	651	93	VIEW-HOME LITTLEROCK	677	27.1	24.7	0.00	0.03	-16	-2	2.5	1.2	153	9.1	0.6	0.0	-19	-1.2	0.51	Cashcoin	SMX
5	651	67	BOMAZ DAMIEN KANZO	642	30.0	19.2	0.05	-0.02	-22	-2	2.7	2.1	156	9.3	0.8	0.3	-8	2.1	1.96	Damien-E	UKD
7	648	95	HOANSTER ZANZIBAR	570	25.9	24.4	0.03	0.06	-17	-2	2.4	3.0	131	13.6	0.0	0.1	5	1.0	-0.90	Armitage	SMX
8	645	97	SEAGULL-BAY-MJ APPLEJAX	768	28.3	24.4	-0.03	-0.01	-19	-2	0.5	-0.2	101	18.0	-0.1	-0.5	10	1.0	2.07	Supershot	GEN
9	640	95	STANTONS CLOSE UP	707	25.5	24.1	-0.03	0.01	-25	-2	2.5	1.2	98	9.7	-0.1	1.4	-4	2.2	1.77	Mardi Gras	WWS
9	640	85	ENDCO SUPREME	670	28.8	30.7	0.02	0.10	-26	-4	3.4	1.1	88	-1.3	-0.9	3.0	0	2.0	1.03	Cashflow	CBL
11	635	93	COOKIECUTTER HARPER	433	33.4	29.6	0.18	0.18	-6	0	4.9	0.9	82	3.8	0.0	-1.4	8	-3.7	0.92	Balisto	GEN
12	630	82	PROGENESIS UNICORN	376	20.6	18.6	0.06	0.07	-17	-2	0.8	2.8	107	15.9	-0.5	1.7	-7	2.9	0.54	Altaspring	SMX
12	630	73	DE-SU 13530 SEVILLE	806	30.4	28.0	-0.02	0.02	-11	0	1.1	2.1	58	9.5	0.6	1.7	-1	1.8	1.45	Supershot	GEN
14	629	94	SEAGULL-BAY JO DANCER	714	45.3	27.4	0.19	0.04	-19	-2	0.3	1.7	88	-1.4	-0.4	1.8	2	2.3	1.13	Josuper	GEN
15	618	92	IHG MONTANA	775	30.1	19.1	-0.01	-0.07	-22	-2	0.4	1.7	156	12.7	-0.1	0.4	-4	2.3	1.28	Montross	CBL
15	618	70	PROGENESIS BEEGEES	720	21.6	24.4	-0.08	0.01	-11	-1	1.7	0.3	137	14.2	-0.1	-0.2	-6	2.6	1.78	Galapagos	SMX
17	617	77	COOKIECUTTER JDI HODEDOE	591	24.4	25.1	0.01	0.06	-16	0	2.4	4.4	101	12.8	0.3	-0.2	20	0.4	0.74	Jedi	WWS
18	615	96	BOLDI V ARMOUR	771	30.4	22.7	-0.01	-0.03	-20	-3	2.0	0.9	134	11.6	0.7	0.0	11	-2.2	1.32	Jabir	SMX
19	613	73	BOMAZ SKYWALKER	686	24.2	29.9	-0.04	0.08	-3	0	1.7	3.9	79	6.7	0.9	0.6	-1	2.4	1.62	Jedi	GEN
19	613	68	MR MASTERMIND	959	31.8	28.0	-0.07	-0.04	-23	-1	1.8	1.9	113	3.4	-1.5	0.5	-8	1.8	1.10	Montana	CBL

Source: AHDB Dairy. AIS = AI Services; ALT = Alta; CBL = Cogent Breeding; GEN = Genus ABS; SMX = Semex; UKD = UK Sires Direct; WWS = World Wide Sires. £PLI = Profitable Lifetime Index; 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.