The latest Australian Breeding Values have revealed there's a bull for every breeding goal in the Genetics Australia team.
The April ABV release has shown the continued strength of Australian-bred bulls, both daughter proven and genomically proven, with many Genetics Australia bulls leading in health, breeding and production traits.
In total, 95 per cent of the Genetics Australia Holstein bulls are in the top 5 per cent of the breed for BPI and 19 of the 23 Jersey bulls are in the in-demand A22 category.
Genetics Australia CEO Anthony Shelly said the ABVs showed there was a "bull for every breeding goal".
The increased emphasis on improved health traits and acceleration of these traits through genomic selection in the Holstein breed is clearly evident. Of the 42 Holstein bulls, 41 are over 100 for both mastitis resistance and daughter fertility.
There are 19 A22 Holstein bulls, 10 polled bulls including five homozygous polled and 26 different sire lines.
Daughter-proven bulls Silverline (373 BPI) and Maebull (363 BPI) led the charge, ranking the best two Australian-standing bulls proven bulls, while genomic sires Sondalo (531 BPIg), Karat (528 BPIg) and Samaria (519 BPIg) rank as the top three Australian-standing genomic sires.
The Jersey ABV results show a clean sweep for Genetics Australia.
Algernon (281 BPI) is the highest Australian-standing daughter-proven Jersey bull, while among the genomic bulls Douggan (393 BPIg) Pickle (381g), Dobson (372g), Trecker (372 BPIg) and Bazyli (366 BPIg) are the top five Australian-standing Jerseys.
Regional sales manager for northern Victoria and South Australia Greg Tiller said the ABVs reflected the depth of Genetic Australia's Holstein and Jersey teams.
"Gone are the days of just breeding for production," Mr Tiller said.
"We have nice type bulls to suit that breeding goal, bulls at the top of the rankings for health traits, mastitis resistance and calving ease, plus bulls that fit the needs of those chasing production.
"We're trying to breed blended cows that will be long lasting and profitable in Australian conditions."
Daughter fertility rates are high, with Optics 118 and full brothers Karat rating 115 and Kardew 112 for daughter fertility.
As a daughter-proven bull with added reliability, Singular excels in offering exceptional daughter fertility (114), cell count improvement (172) and mastitis resistance (104).
At an impressive 509 on the Health Weighted Index [HWI], it will be in high demand in 2021 and early ordering is advised.
Mr Tiller said the 2021 team was the most complete group of bulls ever offered by the co-operative and urged farmers to go to the Genetics Australia website to view the electronic bull catalogue.
Article supplied by Genetics Australia, website www.genaust.com.au.
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