DairyCo

Dominance of O-Man genes continues in the August run

Published 18 August 09

Dominance of O-Man genes continues in the August run

The bull proofs have been published by DairyCo breeding+ this week [Tuesday 18 August] and have reaffirmed the dominance of the remarkable O-Bee Manfred Justice (O-Man).
The bull himself - which first appeared on the UK active list ranked on Profitable Lifetime Index in 2003 and has featured in the top five for the ensuing six years - retains his grip on the number one position, even slightly increasing his lead.
Behind him are a staggering seven of his sons in the top 10 alone - including two which are brand new this August - so increasing the domination of his bloodlines to an unprecedented level in the history of the Holstein breed.
"I don't recall ever seeing domination by one bull to this extent before," says geneticist Marco Winters, director of DairyCo breeding+. "But it's a reflection of the fact that he transmits the ability to produce good volumes of milk, without compromising on essential fitness traits. As such, his genes are a welcome arrival for the modern dairy producer."  
Now with over 700 daughters milking in the UK and many thousand world-wide, O-Man's PTA (Predicted Transmitting Ability) features 734kg milk as well as improvements in cell count (-21), fertility (+2.5), feet and legs (+1.15) and lifespan (+0.6). His PLI is £286.
"In fact, the PLI revamp in 2007, which was designed to identify bulls with these types of trait, is now proving its worth," says Mr Winters. "And if you look at the top 10 bulls ranked on PLI as a group, they average no less than -14 SCC, +1.2

Fertility Index, +1.53 Feet and Legs and +0.34 Lifespan, combined with nearly 600kg of milk.
"These are scores which any dairy farmer would be pleased to have across his herd and anyone who wants to make money in the current economic climate, would be well advised to be guided by PLI as a primary selection filter."
The three bulls which follow O-Man - Long-Langs Oman Oman (solid type), Morningview Legend (now +0.4 Lifespan), Crockett-Acres Eight (outstanding cell counts) and Macomber O-Man Bogart (exceptional fertility at +5.1) - all made their debut in last April's proof run while the long-serving Braedale Goldwyn, now ranked sixth, solidifies his position with further improvement to his already impressive SCC and fertility ratings, and an additional 500 UK daughters.
After Goldwyn come the top 10's two newcomers, with UFM-DUBS Ellrod and Timmer Tyson ranking seventh and eighth. With Klassic Merill Lynch and Delta Novalis as their maternal grandsire respectively, these bulls bring some genetic variation to the O-Man sired line-up.
Of the two newcomers, Ellrod offers higher production (510kg milk) and exceptional fertility (FI +4.8) while Tyson is a big cell count improver (-21) and high for components, but may have less appeal on type.
Tomlu Oman Dotson by O-Man sits ninth on the list with the highest milk transmission at 1108kg of any bull in the top 300 on PLI.
Wizzard completes the top 10 with a breed-leading PTA for kg fat.

Highest new entries for British proven bulls are Bidlea Padbury from the well know Papoose family and Cogent Mordor who is the first son of Picston Shaker to make the available bull list with PLIs of £152 and £149 respectively.
A table of the top 30 available Holstein bulls ranked on the latest PLI (August 2009) appears below. Type Merit is supplied by Holstein UK.

Ends

For further information:
N:    Philippa Stagg
T:    02476 478693
E:    philippa.stagg@dairyco.org.uk

N :    Marco Winters
T :    01978 760797
E :    marco.winters@dairyco.org.uk

Notes for Editors:

DairyCo is a division of the statutory levy board, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

DairyCo's current focus is on improving the profitability of dairy farming by focusing on four specific areas:
•    Provision of high quality market information to help farmers and their representatives make the most of dairy markets and opportunities.
•    Helping dairy farmers increase their profits while meeting regulatory and environmental requirements - through the provision of world class research programmes and practical on-farm tools and services
•    Helping promote the positive perception of dairy farming with the general public.
•    The development of DairyCo activities towards a self-sustaining model.

DairyCo is funded entirely by milk producers, via a statutory levy on all milk sold off-farm, at the rate of 0.06p per litre.  This provides an annual income of around £6.5m.

Find the Table in the Related items to the right...