Guernsey Proven Bulls January 2009

Click on the highlighted names to be taken direct to CDI pedigree details.

Dairy Co released the January Proofs last week and there has been a change at the TOP of the UK rankings with Sniders Option Aaron moving above Tiresford Pedro but both bulls have well balanced proofs for Production and Type Improvement.

Aaron has a remarkable proof based on 56 dtrs in 30 UK herd with a Reliability of 91%

Fortunately he has had a second use in the UK and has a son Les Jaonnets Caras Amir out of Les Jaonnets Keegans Cara the No 1 Ranked cow on PLI at +207 in the UK. Amir has had semen collected on Guernsey Island and it should have been available last autumn, but then patience is said to be a virtue. As yet no sons of AI standard have been registered on the mainland, which seems a missed opportunity.

Pedro has also consolidated his position and has fulfilled the Parent Average Prediction by which he was chosen, but then as a son of arguably the ”best” cow bred in the UK the Ex94 Tiresford Carmen 2nd, she was milking in her 8th lactation at 11 years old when I last saw her and is GDME  and has a VG daughter a full sister to Tiresford River.

Pedro has 101 daughters in 34 UK herds with a Reliability of 94%

Given that Pedro provides a big boost in Milk and Fat+Protein with a huge +0.17% increase in fat percentage and is amongst the best of the breed for udder improvement, I am surprised to see that only 18 daughters have been registered in the last 12 months. Fortunately he has had two sons used Trewey Surprise and Les Jaonnets Pedros Workman who are awaiting proofs.

Other bulls of note are;

Tredinney Sonics Helium with 66 dtrs in 21 herds and a Reliability of 91%

Helium is the best of the Sonic sons but is minus for both of the important Type Composites which is disappointing.

Riverwood Tiller Khan has a first proof based on his US daughters his UK daughters are calving now.

Rozelyn Glacier Holiday has improved his position with more daughters in milk he has 60 dtrs in 21 herds with a reliability of 91%

Holiday is the best of the Glacier sons and looks to be like his father his daughters will improve as they mature, he is a tremendous improver of Fat and Protein percentages and is reducing Cell Counts and Positive for the newly introduced fertility index.

Easby Rowan has gained a first proof albeit with a limited number of daughters 9 in 4 herds but has a reliability of 67%

Rowan was one of 2 sons of Brown Eden Tradition to be used in GGBP

Spring Walk Icy Chiller has gained a first proof based on his US daughters and it is:-

Chillers American daughters have been scored as deep uddered and that is probably why they have such a poor SCC score.

Treloweth Evas Tradition has also gained a first proof he was not used on Guernsey Island as he was a BVD vaccinate and has 17 dtrs in 8 herds with a reliability of 73%

Evas Tradition was the other son of BE Tradition and out of the EX93 Treloweth Eva 109.

Rutter Bros Option Lamar is the last of the bulls with a first proof, marketed by Semex he is an Option son out of the Ex 94 Rutter Bros Enhancer Lily, similar breeding to Aaron but not just as much oomph. His proof is based on Canadian and US daughters.

There are now 28 bulls proven since the launch of the GGBP in 2001 and they have the following averages.

Remembering that all of these bulls were chosen before the 2005 base change, which raised the bar by 11.6 kgs of F+P and 102 points of GMI, I feel this is a pretty good result for the breed. The target when the GGBP was launched was to use bulls predicted to be better than +25 kgs of F+P, at this point we have 28 bulls with an average of +32.7 (with the base change added back).

Full details of all the proven bulls with type bar charts and individual daughter scores can be found using the links on the left to the CDI and Dairy Co.