Agri-Views - Issue 4

Agri-Views Newsletter
Issue 4 - January 2009

USA Tour Highlights, Written by Lauren Norman - On the 28th September 2008 Brad Gavenlock, Lauren Norman, John Dickinson and Lisa Broad travelled to the United States to visit the World Dairy Expo and were fortunate enough to visit some prestigious Holstein & Jersey herds. During their 2 week tour they saw daughters sired by bulls that are currently available in Australia through Agri-Gene.

Our time in the States was spent visiting operations varying from 6000 commercial cow barns to 30 tie-stall registered herds in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon and California. Many of the herds had used Agri-Gene sires and it was fantastic to see row after row of daughters exhibiting the functional qualities you want to see in a cow; well-attached udders, the uniform capacity, the desirable strength and exceptional feet & legs was inspiring.

Holstein - First bull off the rank is the US Type & Show Specialist MD-Delight Storm Alanta EX90. It should come as no surprise that Alanta has a great type score as he comes from the world renowned Adeen & Alicia cow families. One of the highlights was viewing a lot of milking Alanta daughters. They were so consistent with good functional mammary systems. Udders were a real strength of this bull with high, wide rear attachments, good teat placement, udder depth and overall texture. Alanta is a bull that will transmit deep, powerful front ends and capacity. The daughters had exceptional feet & legs, great udders and increased rump width.

We were fortunate enough to visit Milk Source Genetics where we viewed several Probstland Ernesto EX90 daughters. Ernesto is is a high TPI Sire who is +2.39 for overall Type and over +3 for Udder Composite. Udders are a definate strength of this Forbidden son – he is over +5 for Teat Placement and Ligament, over +4 for Rear Udder Width and over +3 for Rear Udder Height and Fore Udder Attachment. The daughters displayed great fore and rear attachments with perfect teat placement and excellent udder texture.
When you combine the quality of udders with his high production & type, this bull is the perfect option for breeders wanting to breed a more moderate sized cow with great production. The daughters were all consistently black in colour.

Red & White Holstein - New Release R&W Holstein sire Hurtgen-Vue Reality Red VG88 is a new outcross Sept Storm son backed by generations of EX cows. We were fortunate to view daughters in milk during the Excalibur daughter tour. His consistent outstanding width and frame coupled with the perfect blend of strength and refinement is something that our Holstein breed requires. Every daughter viewed had an excellent front end, spring and depth of rib, and above average rump width with correct slope. Ligaments in particular were exceptional as was rear udder height and width. Fore udders were well attached with teats in the correct position. The daughters were great natured, beautifully balanced compact cows with exceptional feet and legs; this was quite evident seen as though Reality is the No.1 R&W bull in the world for Feet and Legs.

Jersey - The best line of cows without question was the BW Special Forces daughters which we inspected at Brentwood Farms. The daughters were tall of stature with long, deep dairy frames, very open of the muzzle and chest. Their udders were well above their hocks with strong centre ligaments, snug fore udders & extremely high, wide rear udders. If you are looking for a bull to add strength & front end to your cows, Special Forces is the sire to use.

A large group of Sunset Canyon Maximum daughters were inspected at Jer-Z-Boyz. We admired these cows for their capacity, width and fantastic rumps. They all had great dairy strength, nice depth of rib and good rear udders and texture. A group of Sunset Canyon Magnitude (Maximum’s full brother) daughters were also viewed at the same farm. This group of deep-ribbed, balanced dairy cows was very impressive. Excellent width and front end was a highlight and would not go astray in some of our Jersey herds here in Australia. Teat length was extremely good and the rear udder height, width and udder support was a standout feature. The dairy strength and high components of Maid is evident in these two sons and certainly impressed the group.

We were also fortunate enough to view daughters sired by the No.1 JPI and No.2 Type Sire in the USA - Richies Jace Tbone A364. Tbone is a New Release Jace son out of a VG86 Lemvig daughter who has projected over 30,000 Lbs milk. He offers superb Type, Production and positive components. Tbone is ranked in the Top 10 USA Rankings for JPI, Fat, Protein, CM$, NM$, FM$, Type, Stature, Foot Angle, Fore Udder Attachment, Teat Placement and JUI. The daughters whom we inspected at Nyman Brothers Dairy displayed good dairy strength, bone quality with good frames. Their rear udders were firmly attached, high and wide with great udder texture & tremendous teat placement. Their mobility was good, exceptional foot angle with plenty of depth of heel.

A bull that has been heavily used world wide is Sil-Mist Montana Blair. We were fortunate enough to view a large line-up of second-crop Blair daughters. He has confirmed his ability to sire great type and high components. The daughters had great udders, good height and width of the rear udder and excellent teat placement and had a great dairy bone.

Also new to our Gold Label line-up will be BW Illusionist, an early BW Legion son from an Excellent Illusion cow – BW Illusion Tina ET 352 EX90 which we viewed during our time spent at Brentwood Farms. She was tall, silky and stylish with a beautiful sweep to her rib. Her udder was soft in texture with a deep, strong medial suspensory ligament. We were also fortunate enough to also view Illusionist’s grand dam – BW Sambo I785. BW Illusionist will be released at IDW 2009; don’t miss this opportunity in using the great combination of Brentwood’s finest with Anthem EX95.

Grand Champion Jersey at WDE was crowned to a Belles Jade daughter - Alexvale Made Me Giggle EX96. She was a tall, deep-ribbed cow who was so clean & sharp. When you got behind her, she had so much width & capacity with a high, wide rear udder with good teat placement and outstanding texture. To add to this outstanding achievement, Giggle was recently named Grand Champion Jersey at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Canada. Belles Jade was also named Premier Sire. Also a 1st choice Giprat Belles Connection out of the Supreme Cow from the 2007 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair – Vandenberg Amedeo Gorgeous EX97 topped the Sale of the Stars Component Sale for $52,000 CAN. 2nd top price was for a Belles Jade daughter – Bridon Jades Aquire which sold for $12,700 CAN.

HOLSTEIN
Australian Highlights - Bob Thatcher reports on his recent North East LTE Classification herd visits. Three PEGASE daughters were inspected at Rod Newton’s, the heifers were deep bodied with good soft udders and well attached fore & rear attachments. Correct teat placement and teat length. They showed a lot of dairyness with a flat bone and good feet and legs. Two RONLY daughters were also inspected at the same herd displaying good udders.

Two ALANDONOR daughters were inspected at Tim Walpole’s, the heifers displayed big frames with a flat dairy bone, good udders with very good front & rear teat placement with the will to work. One of the daughters is peaking in the Top 10 cows in the herd for production. One SHREK daughter was inspected at Tom Cooper’s place, the heifer was very tall, they also had two Alandonor daughters which displayed plenty of body depth with soft textured udders. Wide rumps with good angle, very good feet and legs.

Graham Heaver reports on his recent Western District’s Classification herd visits. Alandonor - Best Progeny Test bull I have seen for a very long time. Outstanding udders and texture, great body depth and angle of rib, very good through the muzzle. Desirabull - Great udder texture and very dairy. Shrek - High wide udders with Ideal teat length, very good body depth with outstanding feet and legs. IDEALPRIDE - Great rib and rump angle. PRESTRIKE - Great body depth and angle of rib with good rumps. Ronly - Very good through the rumps showing plenty of dairyness with quality textured udders.

Graham Heaver reports on his recent visit to Wayne & Jodie Drayton’s. They are currently milking seven JOCKO daughters which are producing 2.5 milk solids per day. They are also milking a Pegase daughter which they are extremely impressed with. Both the Jocko and Pegase daughters have excellent temperament and milking speed.

GB BULLS
A TREGIBBY GIBSON daughter three weeks fresh has gone VG87 and was sold at the Welsh Autumn Classic for £5200 and topped the sale. Dalesend Storm Maude EX97 (Dam of Tregibby Gibson) was crowned Supreme Champion at the Welsh Dairy Show for the 5th time.

EXCALIBUR GENETICS
Highland-H STORMIN NORMAN EX94 also put a big blip on the radar with eight daughters on his progeny list that scored VG85 or better! Boisblanc Norman Cristal VG85, Arnolait Norman Corina VG85, Villers Norman Cathie VG85, VivejoieI Lisi Norman ET VG85, Lafontaine Norman Pirouline VG85, Dreane Norman Jorda VG85, Petitlac Lison Norman VG86 and Lesperron Norman Summer ET VG86.

Another popular bull that saw high scoring 2 year old daughters in November was MD-Delight Storm ALANTA EX90. Mission-Bell Alanta Snofall VG85 and Pineyvale Alanta Ashley VG85.

JERSEY
Australian Highlights - SPIRITUAL is continuing too add more daughters to his proof and on recent LTE tour’s in the Western Districts there were a further six daughters scored in two separate herds with scores of 87, 87, 86, 86, 86 and 86. Watch out for for Spiritual’s proof in April 2009!

Second crop Spiritual daughters have also being re-classified with outstanding results. At Riverside Jerseys Riverside Spiritual Robin went from HC+87 to VHC90 and Riverside Spiritual Lori went from HC+86 to VHC90. At Jugiong Jerseys Jugiong Daisymae 5340 went from HC+87 to VHC91, Jugiong Daydream 5341 went from HC+86 to VHC90 and Jugiong Iolanthe 5335 went from HC+86 to HC+88.

Showring Highlights - We are also receiving good reports on the first SPARTICUS daughters that are coming into milk with a Sparticus daughter from Lindsay & Shirley Wilson’s Shirlinn herd taking out Reserve Intermediate Champion in the Hunter Valley On Farm Challenge. Sparticus is a Flowerpower son from the well known Fleurieu Astound Selly.

ILLAWARRA
Two LCVIGOROUS and two STARTRUMP daughters were inspected at Robert Newton’s Ovensdale Illawarra Herd. The LCVigorous daughters displayed plenty of dairyness with depth of rib and a flat dairy bone. The Startrump daughters were very dairy with beautiful bone qaulity. High, wide rear udders with strong ligaments and good teat placement. Five Scarlet daughters were also inspected at the same herd displaying good muzzle and chest width. Beautiful texture through the skin and udders, long deep ribs with very good angularity. Udders were high & wide and all the heifers were peaking over 30 litres.

ANGUS
Arthrogryposis Multiplex - Curly Calf - With recent announcement in the US of a newly discovered lethal genetic defect in the Angus breed called Arthrogryposis Multiplex (formally known as Curly Calf) there has been a lot of hype & hysteria throughout the media and the Angus breed. It is understood that AM is a single recessive genetic defect and therefore will only be seen in progeny when two carrier animals are mated. Even then the probability of the mating of two carriers producing an AM affected calf is 25%. The other 50% chance is that the progeny will also be a carrier and just as importantly there will also be a 25% chance that the resultant progeny will be completely free of the lethal AM Gene. The AM Gene has been identified in the popular GAR Precision 1680 sire and he has also passed it onto his son CA Future Direction 5321 who has been used very heavily both in Australia & the US.

Since the announcement and the availability of a DNA test for AM our partners Select Sires & Accelerated Genetics have undertaken to test all available US sires & Agri-Gene have also tested all of our domestic bulls with suspect pedigrees. From these tests we can confirm that there are only three sires in our current catalogue that are known carriers of a single AM Gene. They are Rito 2V1 of 2536 1407, GAR Solution & Connealy Foundation 426 – All three bulls have now been withdrawn from sale.

In moving forward to the future of the Angus breed in relation to AM, we believe it is an easily managed problem & Angus breeders have been dealing with single recessive genes such as Red Coat gene for a number of years. Other breeds have been dealing with genetic diseases for a long time also such as Protoporphyria in Limousins, Myophosphorylase in Charolais.

In Holsteins we have managed similar single recessive diseases such as CVM & Blad to a point where now it is rare that they are even spoken about. This will also be the case with AM in Angus in a few years with no sires being used in the population that carry the AM Gene. As resellers who have managed the CVM & Blad diseases in Holsteins we have an important role to play in educating Australian Angus breeders on how to manage this newly discovered disease & not to get caught up in the hysteria.

KCF BENNETT PERFORMER - In November 2008, we were informed of the passing of KCF Bennett Performer, one of the most popular bulls from our Angus line-up for 2009. Performer was the lead-off bull in our Angus Sire Directory and is one of the highest growth and muscle bulls available jumping from +4.6 to +7.5 for EMA in the recent EBV run. We currently have decent stocks of Performer however we have been informed we will not be able to source anymore, so 2009 will see him sell out.

December EBV’S Highlights - The release of the December Angus breed plan figures include; LAWSONS DINKY DI Z191 – Our highest selling bull for 2008 continued to add to his already impressive EBV’s by dropping to +2.1 for Birth Weight while increasing for all his growth traits plus Scrotal and EMA. He is the only bull in the breed under +2.2 for Birth Weight and over +100 for 600 Day Weight and over +2.5 for IMF.

BT EQUATOR 395M - Is now one of the highest growth bulls available at +133 for 600 Day Weight. He also had significant gains for CW, EMA and went from +0.9 to +1.5 for IMF.

BT RIGHT TIME 24J – Now with over 800 progeny recorded in Australia. 24J increased for all growth traits as well as CW, EMA and Fat Cover. He is also a trait leader for 400 and 600 Day Weight, CW and EMA.

GAR PREDESTINED – Popular sire from this years USA Tour, Predestined added to his growth and CW, had a huge jump in EMA from +4.9 to +7.0 and is now over +3 for IMF at +3.1, also one of the best for the new Long Fed Index at +129.

CHAROLAIS
Elite Australian Polled Charolais sire BLAWEARY BAROQUE was recently crowned Senior Champion bull at the Perth Royal Show where he scanned an impressive 105 cm2 for Eye Muscle Area. The first Baroque progeny are now on the ground and starting to impress.

New Release Sires – We have two exciting new sires for 2009. DBAR SYNERGY 721T – Polled sire from Canada, Synergy is an early maturing bull with plenty of softness and muscle from an exceptional cow family. ROBUSTIN – Graduated from the French Testing Station to be one of the best available for Maternal Qualities and Fertility.

LIMOUSIN
New Release Sires - Two new sires from the UK, MILLBROOK VIC and MILLBROOK TANKO. Both are Mas Du Clo sons from one of the best cow families from the UK who offer added muscling with very good docility.

NEW BEEF SIRES
Other new sires from some of the other beef breeds include two new BELGIAN BLUE sires from the UK – Wilodge Ulex and Sefion Andyman, a new BRITISH WHITE sire - Ravenswood Zachariah, a new SENEPOL sire – Eaglehawk Shadow Boxer A47 and a new BRAHMAN sire – GTM Shacker Ho M35.

MERCHANDISE
New Product - DIY Pregnancy Tests are now available. DIY Pregnancy Tests enable pregnancy detection in cattle 30 days after joining and 90 days after calving. The test measures the presence of Pregnancy-Specific Protein B (PSPB) in the circulation. PSPB is a protein from the placenta.

This simple test involves the collection of blood from the cow and shipping the sample to the laboratory. Reports are available within 27 hours of the laboratory receiving the sample. With 95% accuracy, this is a safe and convenient way to detect pregnancy in your herd.

PREGTEST Kit (12 Tests) RRP $ 49.95
PREGTEST Individual Test RRP $4.50

Agri-Gene

Agri-Views - Issue 4

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