After the August triannual genetic evaluations included multiple updates and brought new leaders to many of the Holstein and Jersey lists, the results of this month’s evaluations were largely stable. The December 2024 Hoard’s DairymanBull List with all of the top sires is now available.
The most change came in the Jersey breed, where there are two new leaders for Cheese Merit (CM$). JX Peak Deposit {5}-ET bolted to the top of the genomic list and is 103 points higher than second place Victory Nicklaus Scheffler-ET at a CM$ of 985. On the proven side, JX Primus Enzo Chatham {4}-ET returned the top of the CM$ rankings, a spot he held in every proof run in 2023 and April of this year before JX Primus Thrasher Crispin {5} took over in August. Crispin remains the top proven bull for Jersey Performance Index (JPI) at 189, while JX Peak AltaFarva {6}-ET held onto that spot among the genomic bulls with a JPI of 200.
No new Holstein bulls broke through to the top spots as OCD Thorson Ripcord-ET remained number one on the genomic CM$, Net Merit (NM$), and Total Performance Index (TPI) lists for the second straight proof run. Genosource Captain-ET and his clones Genosource Jack-ETN and Genosource John-ETN continued their dominant run on the proven side, topping the TPI list for the seventh straight proof and the CM$ and NM$ for the fourth straight time.
In all, the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) reported that 756,067 males and 86,391,592 females received a genetic evaluation in December. Among the bulls, 441,338 of those evaluations were genomic, and among the females, 8,302,765 evaluations were genomic.
The main updates for this run were a minor revision to the residual feed intake calculation, the integration of international evaluations into the new Brown Swiss trait for rear teat placement, and the exclusion of crossbred animals and animals with missing breed codes for NM$ trends.
By the numbers
A.I. organizations reported 6,239 bulls active for this proof round; that’s 824 fewer bulls than in August. Of these, 4,715 were genomic bulls, giving young sires a 76% market share. That is up significantly from previous evaluations when genomic bulls made up about 70% of the market.
Holstein sires reported totaled 5,203, and there were 740 Jersey bulls included. That’s 633 fewer Holstein bulls and 153 fewer Jersey sires than in August. However, the two breeds continue to make up 95% of all sires reported.
You can access the full rankings for all breeds now.
