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VikingNews UK 03 2016
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100
new holstein bulls
? every year 100 new holstein bulls are bought to the breeding program each year. to find those 100 bulls, there are 3000 bull calves tested genomically, selected by pedigree index. the genetic progress each year is 4-5 ntm units, which means 40-50 euro more per cow each year in profit. high average index in all traits in table 1, you can see the lowest and highest index on the bought bulls on average. gntm of the bulls range from +27 to +45, and that has to do with dif- ferent levels on different pedigrees. the red holstein bulls are included in this table, and they are usually lower than the ordinary holstein. polled
bulls eight of the 100 bulls are polled, and nowadays the polled bulls are almost at the same level as the other bulls. there is a little bit less variation in the pedi- grees among the polled bulls than in normal holstein bulls though. seven of the eight polled bulls have official in- dexes which you can see in table 2. one of the seven bulls, vh zikpprc, is homozygote polled, pp, and at the same time he is a red carrier, rc. country of birth the 100 bulls are born in seven different countries. most of them are born in den- mark and almost same number of bulls are born in sweden and finland. our project with exchanging genotypes with nog (germany) has resulted in bulls that are born in germany, usa and canada. vh bulls or imported bulls? vikinggenetics has always had an open breeding schedule, meaning that we have always used the best bulls around the world as sire of sons based on ntm. 59 of the bought bulls have a by claus langdahl, sire analyst, vikinggenetics table 1. average and highest and lowest index for the last 100 bought holstein bulls. average highest lowest gntm +37 +45 +25 protein 118 135 102 production index 120 135 105 female fertility 112 128 92 udder health 113 128 96 hoof health 108 123 95 body 106 125 87 feet & legs 111 135 94 udder 120 143 102 milkability 107 148 88 temperament 106 120 91 table 2. polled bulls with published evaluation. not all have semen available yet. name sire mgs gntm vh snooz p style p saleen +37 vh pogba p powerball massey +36 vh never p nilson magna p rf +36 vh comxa p commander xacobeo +34 vh zikpprc zumba p ladd p red +28 vh otago vh oneal p vh bostrup +26 vh petrusp powerball uno +25 vh comxa p (commander x xacobeo) sire that is not from viking and 48 of the maternal grandsires of the bought bulls are not from vg. bulls that have most sons are reflector (5) and rodg- ers (4). all other sires have less than four sons. as mgs, vh miracle is in the top with 11, and then vh grafit (6) and vh bostrup (5). et 52 of the 100 last bought bulls are out of et and we expect an increase in that number due to bigger activities today with et among the top heifers. 16 vikingnews | september 2016
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