IN BRIEF

10 March 2000

IN BRIEF

&#8226 MAUGHLIN Storm is the top UK proven type sire available in the February proof run, according to Holstein UK and Ireland with a score of 3.26.

The bulls second crop daughters have strengthened the Aerostar sons proof, according to supplier Semex. His production proof shows £31 PLI.

HUKI rankings show Cogent Lucky in second position with a type merit score of 2.75. This Jabot sons production proof shows £61 PLI and £53 PIN.

Also with a type merit score of 2.75 is Robthom Integrity. In fourth is Juniper Rotate Jed scoring 2.55 and fifth is Ked Jurist at 2.45.

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BREEDING company Supersires is to market Calbrett Lieutenant, a bull imported as a calf from Canada and tested in the UK for its owners John Loftus, Lancs, and Ken Rich, Somerset.

Lieutenant has a type merit score of 2.21 and an udder score of 2.76. His production proof shows £44 PLI and £38 PIN, with 647kg milk, 8.6kg (-0.25%) fat and 17.8kg (-0.05%) protein, at 78% reliability.

Supersires says that this Tesk son offers an outcross choice because he has no Blackstar, Cleitus, Mascot or Starbuck in his predigree. Lieutenant semen costs £18 a straw.

&#8226 BETTER boar fertility is the aim of a new three-year, £140,000 project running at Brunel University, London, and in Cambridge, and funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The award will be used to develop a fertility test for boars, as well as investigating possible undiscovered causes of boar fertility using newly developed technologies.

Researchers involved in the project point out that a 5% drop in sow productivity due to infertile boars can cost £20 a sow a year.