Premier Sires
In the last ten years, the Premier Sires teams have increased in genetic merit by 48.9 kg milksolids (as measured by Breeding Value), at an average rate of increase of 4.89kg milksolids per year.
How is this reflected in a herd using Premier Sires? (See graph below.)
According to Milk Production from Pasture1, the average merit of cows in the individual herd will increase at the same rate as the merit of the sire team. So herds that have been using Premier Sires since 1993 have been increasing at 4.89kg milksolids per year per cow, whereas the national herd has been improving at just 3.28 kg milksolids per year over that time.
That 1.61 kg per cow above the average might not sound much,but bearing in mind that the national herd (ie.the “average ”) itself is 65% Premier Sires, this means that Premier Sires daughters actually produce 4.6kg more than cows not sired by Premier Sires!
Even without making comparisons with a non Premier Sires animal, progress is impressive: if you have been using Premier Sires for 10 years, on average each of your current cows will be producing 48.9kg milksolids per year more than your cows of ten years ago produced.
In comparison with the average herd of 300 cows, that current herd is giving you $19,320 more income this year than the average herd is giving its farmer. And it ’s earning you $58,680 more than your herd of ten years ago would yield in today ’s money. That’s genetic progress!
1 C W Holmes, I M Brookes, D J Garrick, D S Mackenzie, T J Parkinson and G F Wilson.
PREMIER SIRES GENETIC IMPROVEMENT
Genetics and genetic gain is one of the many management tools that dairy farmers can use to increase their profit. You will want the money you spend on AB to benefit your profitability.
What price are you paying for a straw of semen?
While you want the highest BW possible, you should be aware of how much you are paying for it. Then you can decide if you are getting value for money spent on AB.
A straightforward rule of thumb may be useful: If you divide the cost of the semen by the bull ’s BW, you will obtain a cents per unit of BW price.
The 2003 PREMIER SIRES teams as at the 27 June 2003,had weighted BWs of 225 for Holstein-Friesian and 228 for Jersey (BW based on the Animal Evaluation run of 27/6/03). If you divide the cost of the semen for an average sized herd ($10) by the BW delivered, you get:
| Holstein-Friesian PREMIER SIRES ($14 divided by 225) |
6.2 cents/BW unit |
| Jersey PREMIER SIRES ($14 divided by 228) |
6.1 cents/BW unit |
Compare these prices to other AB products available, and you will see that PREMIER SIRES is not only the most profitable option but the best value for dollar spent.
When you combine all the benefits of PREMIER SIRES and consider that you are breeding replacements from the very best genetics available in New Zealand for New Zealand conditions, then you are indeed using the most profitable AB product in New Zealand.
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