Premier Sires
Each year when bulls are selected for Premier Sires, bulls with unacceptable TOPs traits are excluded. Over the last few years the TOP traits of the Premier Sires bulls have been consistently improving.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TOP FIGURES
Sixteen TOP traits are scored by qualified TOP inspectors (for 12 conformation traits) and farmers (for 4 management traits) on a scale from 1 to 9. These raw scores for a bull ’s daughters are used to calculate the TOP BVs for the bull.
The interpretation of TOP BVs is no different from the interpretation of production BVs. That is, on average, the bull passes half his BV to his progeny. If a sire has a BV for a TOP trait that is close to zero, then he is not expected to bring about much change in that trait when he is used on a group of average cows. However, sires whose BVs are markedly different from zero can be expected to bring about slight changes when used on average groups of cows.
The following graphs demonstrate the make up of Premier Sires inseminations carried out between 1992 and 2004 (2004 estimated).
Both sets of graphs above demonstrate that the weighted team averages for both Jersey and Holstein-Friesian have increased significantly. If you have been using Premier Sires over the past few years, your current milking herd is made up of animals sired by bulls from the 1994 through to 2001 teams.
The graphs indicate your future replacements will rate even better on Overall Opinion and Dairy Conformation. Of all TOP traits Overall Opinion has the highest correlation to survival. As a farmer you will benefit from having animals in your herd of higher quality overall.
The two graphs below demonstrate the trend in Udder Overall for the Holstein-Friesian team and Jersey teams.
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