Semex Introduces Four New ‘Genomax’ Bulls
2010-02-11

Semex’s commitment to genomics technology is continuing to bring forward a significant number of new bulls, with a further four ‘Genomax’ bulls being added to the company’s bull listings this month.

Gillette Blitz 2nd Wind - Dam of genomics sire Gillette Stanleycup

This takes the total number of genomically selected bulls that the company has introduced to the UK market to 15 so far, as a result of what the company believes is “one of the most comprehensive genomic selection programmes of any genetics company in the world”.

The four new bulls are Durham Red, Gillette Stanleycup, Gen-I-Beq Shotgun and Regel Beamer.

Durham is out of Belfast 31 VG-86-2YR-FRA, who is out of Gen-I-Beq Durham Sunshine VG-88-4YR-CAN4*, who has over 10 maternal brothers at stud, including Deslacs Shaquille RC. He is sired by Dudoc Mr Burns RC, and his genomic figures of +13 Conformation and +12 Mammary System show that he produces well balanced daughters with high-quality udders.

The Bolton son Stanleycup is out of the renowned Gillette Blitz 2nd Wind, formerly the No. 1 LPI cow in Canada and still ranked No. 4, as at January 2010. He is displaying +16 for Mammary on his genomic proof, and holds tremendous overall promise.   

Shotgun has already seen service as a young sire in the UK, having been introduced to the market in 2008 before routinely going on lay-off. He is now being actively sold again because of his excellent genomic predictions, with double-digit scores for all the major type areas, very low cell counts and balanced production. His actual figures are +15 Conformation, +13 Feet & Legs and -17 Somatic Cell Count.

Regel Beamer, sired by Duplex, is from the same dam as the newly-proven Regel Bachelor. His tremendous genomic predictions show he has a very strong type pattern, with +17 Conformation, +15 Dairy Strength and + 12 Mammary and Feet & Legs.
 
“These new Genomax young bulls all have excellent potential, and we can see them all contributing to the genetics of many UK dairy units,” says Willie Tait, Semex’s genetics manager. “We are currently programming them into our Promate computerised mating program to help customers determine the sort of cows that they should best be used on to improve the next generation of dairy cows.”

At the recent Semex conference, Paul Larmer, chief executive of the Semex Alliance, described genomics as being “the greatest advancement since frozen semen”. Semex now carries out a genomic test on all of its potential young bulls, with four being tested for every one that goes through to conventional progeny testing, thus increasing their chances of being returned to service when proven.

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