Sons of O-Bee Manfred Justice Enter the PLI Rankings
13/01/09

New excitement in the world of Holstein breeding has emerged with the publication of the January ’09 genetic indexes today (13 January), as sons of the renowned O-Bee Manfred Justice start to gain their own proofs.

An O-Bee Manfred Justice daughter

The most promising of these makes his debut well within the DairyCo breeding+ top 10 Profitable Lifetime Index ranking and just a few places below his famous father.

But remarkably, O-Bee Manfred Justice himself (otherwise known as O-Man) holds his number one position with little close competition, his PLI of 267 representing a further improvement on his previous performance and largely reflecting a strengthening of his daughter Fertility Index (FI) to +1.6.

There are increasing numbers of lifespan, fertility and overall ‘fitness’ improvers high in the rankings, according to Marco Winters, director of DairyCo breeding+, who says there is plentiful choice for the producers who are keen to improve these important traits.

“All of the top 10 PLI sires are cow survival improvers as measured by the Lifespan Index (LS), and as a group, they also improve daughter fertility, with an average Fertility Index of +1.9,” says Mr Winters.

Topping the lifespan improvers is the second placed PLI sire Laudan, with daughters surviving nearly a full lactation longer than the average cow, as indicated by his LS score of +0.8 lactations. Laudan has improved 15 points on PLI since the last proof run in August ’08, to 229. His daughter survival is no surprise, as this bull is a fitness specialist who reduces daughter somatic cell counts, improves daughter fertility and transmits good legs and mammary traits.

Number three is Wizzard, who at +40.9 kg of fat is the best fat improver of the bunch.

Re-entering the top 10 in fourth place, adding 14 points to his PLI to reach 205, is the popular Braedale Goldwyn. This type specialist at +3.6 Type Merit has a no-holes proof combined with one of the best daughter SCC scores in the top list at
-22.

Remaining in fifth place is Leif, again with very strong fitness traits.

The highest new entry is the first of the new O-Man sons, the sixth placed
Wa-Del Hayden. Out of a Mtoto dam, and with an impressive -22 SCC, +0.2 Lifespan and an incredible +4.0 Fertility Index, this bull seems to have inherited all of the strong fitness characteristics of his sire, which he combines with a strong Type Merit of +1.6, which arguably is more characteristic of his maternal grandsire.

“There are likely to be more O-Man sons coming through in the near future as AI companies announce their marketing strategies, but our lists today only include bulls which are already being actively marketed,” remarks Mr Winters.

In seventh place is Jardin and climbing into the top 10 this time are Gibor, Jobess and Klassic Merrill Lynch – the latter with a FI of +7.3, making him the best daughter fertility improver of the top bulls. In equal 10th place with Merrill Lynch is Janthur, who matches his PLI of 187.

The highest British bred bulls are equal 14th placed Burlane Tennyson who improves his previous PLI by 10 points and Bilsrow Jock, both at PLI 179.

Other British interest can be found at numbers 23 and 28 with new entries of Lookout son - Richley S S Lookout (171 PLI) and Courier son – Cogent Easter (PLI 167).

Commenting on the rankings, Mr Winters says: “With the formula for PLI having been significantly changed in 2007, the featured bulls are no longer necessarily those with the highest production, but more a reflection of the balanced approach to breeding this index was designed to support. Further evidence of this is the fact that the highest production bull now no longer ranks in the top 50 available PLI bulls.”

A list of the top 30 available Holstein bulls ranked on the latest PLI (January 2009) is below.

ALT = Alta; BUL = bullsemen.com; COG = Cogent; DD = DairyDaughters; FTF = FarmerToFarmer; GEN = Genus; SMX = Semex; WWS = World Wide Sires UK.

FI = Fertility Index; LS = Lifespan Index; PIN = Profit Index; SCC = Somatic Cell Count Index; TM = Type Merit.

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