Semex Sires Show ‘Spirte’ in February UK Holstein Proofs
15/02/07

Building on its long-standing successful track record in the Holstein UK proofs, Semex UK has seen a number of sires obtaining improved scores and two established bulls gaining actual Type Merits for the first time.

A Spirte daughter, Spirte Pam 473

Cedarwal Spirte has lived up to expectations following many positive reports on his second-crop daughters in Canada, moving up from +2.48 to +2.75 Type Merit. He sires that rare combination of dairy quality and strength, breeding powerful cows with clean, flat bone and snug, firmly attached udders. Spirte also lifts milk and fat% and is highly-rated for milking speed, temperament and lactation persistency, making him very well-suited to UK systems.

Confirming his position as one of the world’s leading type sires, Ladino Park Talent RC also showed significant improvement moving up from +3.06 to +3.27 Type Merit. Talent is highly regarded for his amazingly consistent udder quality, borne out by a latest Mammary score of +3.40, as well as excellent feet and legs and wide rumps with near-ideal slope.

Storm sons - Pursuit September Storm RC and Braedale Freeman – gained UK type proofs for the first time. September Storm’s score of +2.72 Type Merit, together with +2.65 on Mammary based on 100 UK daughters, demonstrates his ability to breed fancy, stylish cows with milk, fat and very good somatic cell counts. Braedale Freeman also returned a positive +2.84 Type Merit score based on 121 UK daughters. His breeding pattern shows high fat percentage, wide rumps and quality udders.

“This set of proofs tells two stories; the second-crop proofs for Spirte and Talent confirm the reliability of their initial, randomly-sampled proofs, while the actual UK proofs show that the Canadian figures give an accurate picture of a bull’s eventual breeding pattern in the UK,” said Willie Tait of Semex UK. “Improved results, particularly in key functional traits, by sires like Spirte and Talent show their current and long-term breeding potential. Overall, our sires are showing real strength in the blend of traits that are required by today’s dairy producers.”

Gillette Final Cut showed increased production of +345kg Milk, +0.09% Fat, -0.02% Protein, and a somatic cell count of -16. Overall Type Merit is +3.09, with +2.31 Dairy Strength and 2.97 Mammary. Freeman and Final Cut are graduates of the long-running Semex UK FAITH young sire programme alongside other well-known current bulls such as Braedale Bambam, Gillette Cutler and Rietben Charge.

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