New duo parade at top of PLI table
New duo parade at top of PLI table
TWO new bulls top this quarters PLI ranking for bulls available in the UK, outclassing previous bulls by £16 and £9 PLI respectively.
Top of the list is Eastland Festival a Celsius son, bred in Holland, with a PLI of £83, £86 PIN, 1067kg of milk, 31.9kg (-0.06%) fat, 34.1kg (0.0%) protein and 0.24 type merit.
In Novembers proof run Festival was just 1% below the 65% reliability needed to be ranked by the Animal Data Centre, but he now has 41 daughters in 32 herds giving him a reliability score of 74%.
In second position is Elite Mountain Donor Imp with £79 for both PLI and PIN. He offers 873kg of milk, 31.4kg (-0.11%) fat, and 29.7kg (0.02%) protein. But there is no type merit conversion available for this Australian bred sire.
While these top bulls figures sound low, the new genetic base has reduced PLI values by about £27 across the board. This is due to resetting the average PLI cow born in 1995 to £0. A further £30 to £40 PLI was taken off top bull values due to revised economic figures for milk and stock used to calculate PIN (Livestock, Jan 21).
For all Holstein bulls, the new genetic base means PTA 2000 production values are lower than PTA 95 levels by about 300kg of milk, 9kg of fat and 10kg of protein. Type merit scores have also been realigned to a 1995 average.
Third place bull, Jabot son Delta Herald, now has a proof which shows £70 PLI and £70 PIN, whereas in November he scored £135 for each index. His proof now shows 931kg of milk, 28.4kg (-0.05%) fat, 28kg (-0.02%) protein and 1.49 type merit.
Ranked fourth is Etazon Addison and Novembers top bull Icarios now takes fifth position.
Notable newcomers further down the ranking include Potters Field BW Ron with £64 PLI, £67 PIN and 1.4 type merit in 12th position. He is closely followed by Topspeed Kid in 13th with £64 for both PIN and PLI, and 0.99 type merit. Cogents promising sire Cogent Lucky with £61 PLI, £53 PIN and ranking well for type with a merit score of 2.75 is joint 20th in the ranking. *
Jessica Buss
Top 10 PLI UK available Holstein Friesian bulls (Feb 2000)
£PLI £PIN Type Merit Supplier Price
Eastland Festival 83 86 0.24 Genus TBC
Elite Mountain Donor Imp 79 79 n/a Semen World 28
Delta Herald 70 70 1.49 Genus 27
Etazon Addison 70 67 1.57 Genus 35
Icarios 68 63 1.28 TBC 27
Genus Townley 66 72 0.25 Genus 12
Olmo Prelude Tugolo 66 66 1.69 Avoncroft POA
Henu Mas 66 64 1.54 Supersires 23
Ricecrest Brett 65 68 1.57 ABS distribtrs 27
Jocko Besne 65 63 2.27 Supersires 40
Fatal 65 51 1.61 Supersires 28
Source: Animal Data Centre and Holstein UK and Ireland.
TBC: To be confirmed. POA: Price on application – supplies limited.