August 31, 2010

The freshly released “Good Bulls Guide” has been given the thumbs up for its practical application and relevance to Australian dairy producers by Semex’s general manager Jim Conroy.

ADHIS (Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme) compiled the list, which will be released twice a year, after completing a research survey in semen usage by Australian daiyrmen**. It has ranked bulls (both Australian proven and available international sires) by common breeding objectives – mastitis resistance, longevity, type, reliability, production (ASI) and profit (APR).

Mr Conroy said that a shift from a focus on a single number-based APR selection to a guide that focuses more on traits that breeders use to select their bulls, longevity (survival) rather than profit (APR) makes sense.

“Whilst very few breeders ask their semen representative specifically for the survival rating of any particular sire, they do this indirectly by making their buying decisions based around the best bulls for udder traits, temperament, structural soundness and all those traits that help to keep a cow in the herd for many lactations,” Mr Conroy said.

“Industry pressures over the past 20 years because of deregulation, drought, poor milk prices and heifer export demand, has left very few breeders with the option to cull seriously based around production alone.

“With the selection of plus-proven production sires available there are also very limited numbers of heifers that enter the herd today that are incapable of making a paying level of production.”

He said the result gives farmers what they are looking for – cows that live long, healthy, productive lives.

In the new guide, the Semex’s core philosophy of balanced breeding shines through with no less than 33 active sires on the elite list of 271 high-rated sires for survival.

Three of the top four include two recently released Goldwyn sons from the August sire proof release, GINARY JACK (who also doubles as a calving ease specialist), COMESTAR LAUTHORITY (who was proven in Canada but who converts on MACE data as the NO.2 PTAT sire in the US) and Semex Australia’s flagship for the last four years LADINO PARK TALENT.

The survival dominance is also well supported by overall type when it comes to Semex sires. It has no less than eight of the top 20 overall type sires on the ADHIS – ABV system.

And the production specialist list includes 10 Semex sires – five Goldwyn, two Oman and three other alternative sires lines.

Mr Conroy’s summation is supported by a story that appeared in the Weekly Times last week, quoting Cooriemungle dairy farmers Garry and Lee Hibberd who milk 600 Holsteins. The couple were among the first dairy farmers allowed to see the ADHIS’s draft publication. They described it as a great improvement.

They said instead of enduring the mountain of paper work and head scratching every year when they considered their sire choices, they would now be able to scan the sire lists to find the bulls that excelled in the traits they preferred for their herd.

** Bulls listed in the Good Bulls Guide have been identified by independent, scientific assessment by ADHIS using the world’s best practice in genetic evaluation.

Semex is the exclusive distributor of livestock genetics marketed by the Semex Alliance, the world’s largest artificial breeding organisation.

For more information:

Jim Conroy

General Manager

Mobile: 0418 107 863

Office: (03) 9743 0344

Email: jimconroy@semex.com.au

Web: www.semex.com.au

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