Three UK proved bulls are in the top 10 in the Milk Development Council's (MDC's) latest rankings of Holstein proven dairy bulls published this week (8 August). With second crop daughters, MOET Lookout re-joins the top 10. Although dropping in Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) slightly, the other two UK names, Picston Shottle and Watergate Delegate, stay in the leading group.

Remaining in top place is Dutch sire Delta Canvas with a £PLI of £85 - unchanged from the May proof run. He is followed by another Dutch bull, Dekker Eext Promise, who moves up from fifth and adds £2 to his £PLI to reach £79.

In third place and up from fourth, despite dropping £2 of £PLI, is the American sire

O-Bee Manfred Justice. He now has a £PLI of £76. The first of the UK bulls, MOET Lookout, comes in at number 4 with a £PLI of £75 and shares the place with Careca who drops down from third and looses £4 of £PLI.

De Crob Adept is in sixth place, from seventh, with a £PLI of £74 and just £1 of £PLI ahead of De Crob Dynasty.

The second of the UK sires, Watergate Delegate, moves from tenth to eighth despite dropping £4 off his £PLI to a £PLI of £72. He shares this place with a newcomer to the top 10 rankings, Italian bull Vanzetti Manfred Flagello.

Picston Shottle is in tenth place with a £PLI of £71, £5 down on his May figure. He combines this with an excellent somatic cell count of -25 - the best in the top 50 proven Holstein sires available in the UK.

“The good news is that three UK proven bulls rank in our top 10 proven available bulls this quarter,” says MDC breeding+ director Marco Winters. “There is relatively little change in the £PLI's of the top 10 bulls with just two newcomers and degree of reshuffling of positions.

“PLI takes account of longevity, somatic cell count, locomotion as well as production of bulls' daughters so it is a powerful initial screening tool for farmers.”

Also published this week are the new genetic rankings for the coloured breeds. The published information includes top £PLI lists for bulls with UK progeny tests and international proofs as well as top cow lists.

MDC breeding+ also includes the Guernsey Merit Index on its bull lists. Further information is available from the breed societies involved and from the MDC breeding+ website on www.mdc.org.uk.

The Holstein sire list includes HUK Type Merit values and the company marketing each bull. Every effort has been made to make sure that lists published by MDC breeding+ and HUK are the same. All PTAs have been sent to breed societies and milk recording organisations.