The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoard’s Dairyman.

The April sire summaries reveal that Select Sires’ Super Sampler™ lineup once again dominates the industry with availability of elite GTPI® and high Net Merit Dollar (NM$) genomic young sires.

There are 30 Select Sires Super Samplers and GenerVations young sires that rank among the Top 100 GTPI Active Holstein Genomic Young Sires. If it is Net Merit you seek, Select Sires has you covered there too; with 97 Active Holstein Genomic Young Sires greater than +$800 NM$. Twenty-eight rank among the top 100 for NM$ with an average Net Merit value greater than +$888!

Topping the list of high GTPI Super Samplers at Select Sires is 507HO13740 ROLAN at +2824. A 7HO12600 MODESTY son, he is the No. 3 GTPI sire on Holstein Association USA’s young sire ranking list with semen available. To call ROLAN balanced would be an understatement. At +$957 NM$, he ranks among Select Sires’ top three genomic young sires. Add to that a Dairy Wellness Profit Index® (DWP$®) of +$1,071, Wellness Trait Index® (WT$®) of +$111 and fantastic type indexes (+2.29 PTAT, +2.57 UDC, +1.85 FLC) and you have the complete package!

ROLAN’s full brother, 507HO13715 RAPTOR, is another well-balanced bull with high NM$ (+$934) and GTPI (+2766) values. In addition, he excels for DWP$ (+$1,025) and WT$ (+$106), indicating that he can produce healthier cattle that are long-lived (+7.6 PL). If it’s your desire to boost milk yield and components within your herd, 7HO12788 FRAZZLED offers +2,549 Milk, +77 Protein, and +103 Fat and is the breed’s best for DWP$ (+$1,180) and WT$ (+$107). He ranks No. 2 in the prestigious Select Sires genomic young sire lineup for NM$ at +$959. Additionally, both RAPTOR and FRAZZLED earn Select Sires’ WellnessPRO™ and FeedPRO® designations and are available in gender SELECTed™ semen.

Wellness and Fitness Specialists

Lessen the risk of costly health incidents by selecting sires that carry Select Sires’ WellnessPRO™ designation. With the introduction of the Calf Wellness Index™ (CW$™) by Zoetis in March, Select Sires modified the criteria for a sire to earn the WellnessPRO designation to include a combination of WT$ and CW$.

7HO12556 PAGEONE firmly holds the breed’s No. 1 spot for WT$ at +$231 and is an impressive +$59 for CW$. This Jacey son from a 7HO11314 MOGUL dam offers commercial appeal at +1,326 Milk and 2.58 Somatic Cell Score (SCS) from petite-stature offspring (-.23 Stature). PAGEONE is available in gender SELECTed semen and is perfect not only for the heifer pens (4.6% CE), but for use in any mating where managers are anxious to return their fresh cows back into production quickly with as little trouble as possible after calving.

Exciting fitness trait sires include: 7HO13731 FLYER, 7HO13398 SUPERFLY and 507HO13737 EINSTEIN. Ranking No. 3 in Select’s genomic lineup for Daughter Pregnancy Rate (+3.6 DPR), FLYER will also lower Somatic Cell Score (SCS) (2.49) and notch up the Productive Life (+7.7 PL) of his offspring. SUPERFLY is a Supershot son from a Galaxy dam, offering a bit of a different pedigree for Select Sires’ bloodlines. He is positive for DPR (+3.0), Heifer Conception Rate (+1.7 HCR) and Cow Conception Rate (+4.8 CCR). A check can also be made beside his name for heifer matings. At +5.9% CE, he is a Select Sires CalvingPRO™ and he is available in gender SELECTed semen.

Ranked among Holstein Association’s top 20 for GTPI, and No. 2 at Select Sires, 507HO13737 EINSTEIN descends from a very different sire stack on the maternal side of his pedigree (MODESTY x LUCID x LEXOR). Another Select Sires WellnessPRO sire, EINSTEIN is +$1,082 DWP$, among the top 10 in the breed, and +$188 WT$. EINSTEIN can boost milk solids (+131 CFP) and components percentages (+.06% P, +.10% F) and is Select Sires’ best for the CDCB’s new Mastitis STA at +2.9. Look for EINSTEIN to improve udder traits (+2.59 UDC), especially fore udder attachment (+3.21) and rear udder height (+3.44) and width (+3.16).

Focusing on Fertility

7HO12954 ATLAS-RED, a 7HO12388 DESIRED son jumps to the top of the young sire lineup for Sire Conception Rate (SCR) at +4.3. In addition, there are 16 sires in Select’s genomic young sire lineup at +3.0 or greater for SCR and 12 of these sires are also greater than +2500 GTPI. If you want high-fertility, high-performing sires, check out 7HO12998 THONMAKER (+2781 GTPI, +3.1 SCR), 7HO12978 HOUSE (+2781 GTPI, +3.2 SCR) and 7HO13504 JAGUAR (+2749 GTPI, +3.0 SCR). If your preference is for high-fertility sires that excel for Net Merit, Select Sires offers 10 Super Samplers and one GenerVations young sire at or over +850 NM$ and +2.0 SCR.

Select Sires continues to innovate the use of data to benefit customer-owners and is the first and only A.I. organization to identify their highest performing sires for sex-sorted semen in both 2M and 4M products. In March, Select Sires introduced a new designation for sires achieving high fertility in sex-sorted semen to provide a useful tool to help breeders maximize success with sex-sorted semen and enhance the return on their semen investment. The Elite Sexed Fertility™ designation is based on Select’s Combined Fertility Index™ (CFI™), which combines information from several large-scale sire fertility analysis systems. New data will be reviewed monthly to track performance and new sires may earn the designation between sire summaries. In April, six young sires qualified for this designation, including 507HO12837 ZAMBONI, 507HO12897 SAMURI, 507HO13276 BOWEN, 507HO13328 YALE, 507HO13373 FLAGSHIP and 509HO12742 FOXHOLE. For the most up-to-date listing of designees, visit the Select Sires website.

Type Standouts

7HO12922 DELIGHT tops Select Sires’ Type rankings at +4.25, followed closely by 7HO13730 UNDENIED at +4.24. DELIGHT is a 7HO11596 DEFIANT son from the famous Barbie cow family. He is an udder improvement specialist, ranking extremely well for fore udder attachment (+4.59), udder cleft (+3.28), udder depth (+3.82), all contributing to a superior Udder Composite (+3.13). Both DELIGHT and UNDENIED rank in the top five young sires within the Holstein breed.

Select Sires’ Showcase Selections™ lineup is packed with ultra-strong genomic young sires, including 7HO13839 TATOO (+3.97 PTAT, +3.63 UDC, +$178 WT$), 7HO12773 KENOSHA (+3.55 PTAT, +3.00 UDC, +2.00 FLC) and GenerVations sires 250HO12961 DOC (+3.97 PTAT, +2.83 UDC, +2.07 FLC) and 250HO12589 JACOBY (+3.87 PTAT, +3.12 UDC).

To view Select Sires’ complete young sire lineup, please visit www.selectsires.com or contact your local Select Sires sales representative.

Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select Sires Inc., is North America’s largest A.I. organization and is comprised of nine farmer-owned and -controlled cooperatives. As the industry leader, it provides highly fertile semen as well as excellence in service and programs to achieve its basic objective of supplying dairy and beef producers with North America’s best genetics at a reasonable price.