Cogent Launch Highest-Ranking Shottle Son
2010-08-18

British breeding company Cogent has launched an exceptional new Shottle son today, following the publication of the August bull proofs.

Cogent Twist daughter, Combwich Twist Elly

The bull has become the highest ranking newcomer in the official DairyCo rankings whose proof is based on actual daughter performance in British herds. He is also the highest ranking of all available Shottle sons, and is UK-owned and bred – with his mother still milking in the 1,400-cow, Cheshire-based Grosvenor herd.

The bull is Cogent Twist, and his Profitable Lifetime Index of £160 reflects exceptional all round performance for both production and type, and also includes some outstanding traits for fitness - most notably for cell counts and lifespan.

Twist’s high milk volume PTA (491kg) is, unusually, combined with positive fat and protein percentages (+0.06 and +0.01% respectively), while some 24.6kg fat in his proof will appeal to any profit-driven dairy farmer.

His high type proof (Type Merit +1.89) reflects the sort of robust, long-living daughters every dairy farmer wants, which have chest width, body depth and rump width as well as very good mammary traits and outstanding scores for legs, feet and locomotion.

“The daughters we’ve seen are phenomenal,” says Cogent’s Hugh Pocock. “They are wide and deep but without extreme angularity, and carry extra condition despite their high production.

“There’s no question in my mind that Twist’s dam, Cogent Major Tex VG88 (by Looking Major), is one of the best cows to come from the Cogent nucleus herd, and her production has been outstanding.”

Of her four lactations to date, her second is her best at 14,650kg with 4.31% fat and 3.18% protein (1,096kg fat plus protein), which is exceptional for volume and quality in 305 days, and gave her a within-herd Production Index of 133.

“Members of Visions – our young sire proving scheme – have been asking for more of this bull ever since his daughters started to calve,” adds Mr Pocock. “Now we can see his proof, it reflects all the things they have highlighted to us, which is summed up as a ‘will to survive and get on’.”

Twist’s pedigree also features Cogent Winchester Tex VG86 (his maternal grandam), a cow which is a full-sister to Art-Acres Win 395 – one of several successful AI sires which feature in this consistent, bull-breeding family.

Price: £26; or £20 for members of Cogent Visions.

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