STJ Progeny Celebration Sale Has Huge Success

Despite the chilly March temperatures, the quality and the prices at the St. Jacobs Progeny Celebration held on the 16^th sale were hot! The sale averaged $6,211 on 116 lots, with Holsteins averaging $6,674 and Jerseys averaging $4,010. These prices are a true testament to the quality found at the sale and through the genetics of the STJ lineup.

Lot 1 topped the sale – Kingsmill Ashlyns Annisa-ET, VG-89 at 2-08. Consigned by Gene Iager and Triple T Holsteins of North Lewisburg, Ohio, this DESTRY*RC senior three-year-old from Tri-Day Ashlyn brought $60,000. Annisa won the senior two-year-old class at the Mid-East Summer National and stoof 4^th at the International Holstein Show in 2012. Her new owners are Chelsea and Caitlyn Abbott of Fairfield, Vt.

Sale staff & buyers of top two selling consignments

Lot 1 – Kingsmill Ashlyns Annisa-ET VG-89 at 2-08

Second high seller was Lot 9, MS Apples Aleda-Red-ET, at $44,500. This December 1^st model of Redburst-Red brought $44,500 and sold to Westcoast Holsteinss of Chilliwack, BC. She was consigned by Apple Partners of Lanark, IL.

Lot 9 – MS Apples Aleda-Red-ET

Rounding out the top three Holsteins sold was a consignment from Golden Oaks Farm, Wauconda, Ill. Milksource Afrshk Ashley-ET, VG-89 at 2-08, has been a headline daughter of AFTERSHOCK and she was struck off at $36,700. Ashley is due in mid-May carrying an ultrasound female by Sid, and her dam, Milksource Goldwyn Africa-ET EX-92, was Grand Champion at the Midwest Spring National and WI Championship Show in 2012.

Lot 16 – Milksource Afrshk Ashley-ET VG-89 at 2-08

High selling Jersey and Lot J1 was Arethusa HG Victoria-ET – a 04/12 HIRED GUN x Arethusa Response Vivid EX-93 Grand Champion International Jersey Show ’12 x Huronia Centurion Veronica 20J EX-97 Supreme Champion World Dairy Expo ’06. Arethusa Farm, Litchfield, CT consigned this exciting calf.

Lot J1 – Arethusa HG Victoria-ET

The sale was managed by MD-Hillbrook, Chris & Jennifer Hill, Thurmont, MD. Chris Hill performed auctioneering duties while Norm Nabholz read pedigrees. Taking bids from around the ring and on the phone were Paul Trapp, Michael Heath, Nick Raggi, David J. Lentz, George Morasci, Robert Yeoman and Tim Abbott. Jennifer Hill handled clerking duties.

Another highlight from the day was the print canvas presented to the Abbott family from members of the ABS Global team, shown below. In addition, the Hill family presented the Abbotts with a statue of AFTERSHOCK.

ABS staff presenting the canvas to the Abbott family

The print canvas presented to the Abbott family

Additional Photo highlights from the day:

Lot 63 – $8800 – 11/10 Aftershock x EX-93 Outside x EX-92 Durham. Due 04/13 to Goldstar. Purchased by Golden Oaks.

Lot 28 – $25,000 – 09/12 Atwood x Hezbollah EX-92

Lot 12 – $10,000 – 07/12 Large x VG-87 Dorcy x EX-91 Goldwyn. #6 GTPI Large in the breed 12/12

Thank you to Holstein World for the photos! For more information on St. Jacobs ABC and the Judge’s Choice, Breeder’s Choice and Red and White Holstein bull lineups, visit their website here.

 

From the Field – A Report on DORCY

29H14142 Coyne Farms DORCY-ET*BY

A report from ABS Area Sales Manager Kelly Driver                                                   

29H14142 Coyne Farms DORCY-ET

Coyne-Farms DORCY stands at #2 on the TPI lists and is living up to all his genomic predictions! DORCY was used heavily as a genomic sire and a sire of sons during his traditional sampling period and the resulting daughters are especially pleasing to breeders.

DORCY’s story actually starts in the spring of 1993 when his breeders, Coyne Farms at Avon, NY, were expanding and filling a new free stall barn. The 1000-cow dairy purchased a load of bred heifers from Canada and among the group was Glanstai Counselor Edie, a daughter of Carnation Counselor, who was pregnant at the time to Micheret Darby, an Inspiration son. As luck would have it, the resulting heifer calf became the dam of Coyne Farms Merrill Daisy (GP-81). She in turn was bred to Startmore Rudolph and that heifer became the dam of Coyne-Farms Bret Daffers (Ex-91), who has been a prolific brood cow at Coyne Farms. Her mating to Sandy-Valley BOLTON, resulted in DORCY, who tested clean for the CVM recessive.

DORCY’s full sister is classified EX-90 and peaked at 124 pounds of milk with a 6.1% butterfat test during the heat of last summer. Her third lactation credits to date for this lactation include 249 days 27,950M 4.3% 1191F 2.8% 776P. Additionally, there are 14 more Daffers daughters milking in the herd, sired by Goldwyn, Colby, Planet, Socrates, Auden, Million and SHOTTLE. Line them up side by side at the headlocks and what an impressive group they are! Dairyness, tremendous strength, uniformly good udders…it’s all evident in this cow family!

“Our DORCY daughters are slightly above average in size, but not too big for the free stalls, and all of them have really sound feet and legs,” notes Brian Coyne.

In fact, the Coyne herd now includes 15 milking DORCY daughters, with 7 more to calve in the coming months. The first milking daughter, Coyne-Farms Dorcy Jean, is classified VG-86 and currently is contracted to ABS for a BAYARD son. Another DORCY scored VG-86 is a daughter of Shottle Yeah, (part of their prolific Manfred Yadda cow family with several sons in active AI lineups).

At a neighboring farm dispersal last year, Brian purchased a DORCY bred heifer who now carries a fancy udder with veins evident from every angle. In fact, on the most recent herd classification, 12 DORCY daughters were scored with five attaining marks of Very Good 85 or higher. They ranged from 77 to 86 points overall, a testament to the uniformity throughout the entire group. Ten of the 15 milking daughters are currently milking over 80 pounds per day and the entire group boasts a 305-day mature equivalent production average of 26, 917 pounds!

DORCY offers breeders a little different pedigree with no O-Man, Planet, Goldwyn or SHOTTLE in it. The impressive combination of type and production from his cow family and daughters are readily evident in DORCY’s proof with +1603M +46F +45P +623NM 2.67SCS +4.9PL and +2.96T +3.36UDC +2.85FLC.

“The beautiful udders are what you notice first on his daughters,” notes Tom Harkenrider, sire analyst for ABS Global. “Daughters are strong, tall, and open with slight slope to the rump. They are also straight in the leg when viewed from both the side and rear.”

DORCY Daughters

Sandy-Valley Drcy Shamay-ET VG-86, Sandy-Valley Farms, Scandinavia, WI

Coyne-Farms Dorcy Jean VG-86, Coyne Farms, Inc, Avon, NY

Bender Dorcy 457-Grade GP-83, Loyal Bender, Greenwood, DE

ABS South Africa Delivers Genetic Improvement to Customers

By Dan Bauer, Genetic Management Programs Manager

Last fall I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to South Africa and work with ABS South Africa staff. This team is a talented, experienced, and diverse group. Like our staff there, South African dairymen are passionate and demand the most advanced genetic improvement strategies the industry has to offer. The goal of this training was to review GMS and  ensure it was being utilized to maximum potential. We also took this opportunity to discuss advancements in genomic  technology in genetic evaluations and how it may influence the breeding plans of customers.

Our first day included a trip to the J.H. Blanckenberg herd which is a well-managed and extremely progressive 800-cow GMS, and RMS customer. Through the use of RMS, the Blanckenberg’s have significantly improved pregnancy rates and overall reproductive performance of their operation. The GMS program has been vital in improving udders in the herd.  HPR has also been a useful management tool for them to use for culling decisions. In addition, HPR is used as a breeding  tool on the farm for when and where to use sexed semen, high genetic merit bulls, and genomic sires. While at this  beautiful farm, we held a cow-coding workshop to help standardize the team and make sure trait definitions were clearly understood and correctly applied.

Cow-coding Workshop

Next, we spent two and a half intensive days in the classroom reviewing the GMS program; what it is, how to use it, and how to ensure its properly implemented to help increase customer-profitability. Topics discussed in detail were:  sire-selection, inbreeding management, on-farm data collection, and how to interpret GMS reports. We were able to spend time reviewing genetic improvement fundamentals, the excellent ABS Jersey lineup, as well as early industry results using genomic selection in sire procurement.

Mid-week we attended the South Africa Holstein Society Annual General Meeting. The meeting featured two keynote speakers who discussed research on a new South African multiple-trait index, and how genomic selection was changing the industry. The evening featured a beautiful banquet and the society celebrated the debut of new a book detailing the history of the Holstein cow in South Africa.

1st Place 5-Yr-Old by IATOLA

The week concluded with the team attending the Cape Dairy Expo in Capetown. This was a dairy show, as well as a trade show. The event featured gorgeous weather, excellent attendance, and spirited competition amongst the Holstein, Jersey, and Ayrshire breeds! ABS South Africa hosted a booth which garnered an abundance of traffic and high interest in the ABS product lineup from many of the Expo’s attendees. In the show ring, ABS progeny did not disappoint! The winning 5-year-old Jersey was a beautiful rear-uddered daughter of type-standout, 29JE3301 IATOLA. This awesome Jersey cow was able to combine silkiness, clean-cutness, and angularity with extreme width and power to top the  5-year old class.

The highlight of the day for ABS was unanimous. A daughter of none other than Holstein legend 29HO12209 PICTSON SHOTTLE topped the 3-year-old cow class and went on to be named Intermediate Champion. This wonderful young cow combined a stylish frame with an absolutely beautiful udder, while walking on a great set of feet and legs. The best thing about this cow is many around ringside agreed her best days are still ahead! Her awesome udder and youthful frame will likely only improve as she calves in again and gracefully matures. The satisfied owners would definitely confirm ABS’s industry-leadership as “The World Leader in Bovine Genetics.”

Intermediate Champion by SHOTTLE

Again, this was a once-in-a-lifetime trip and a tremendous opportunity for GMS to expand its footprint in South Africa. I admire the enthusiasm and passion of the ABS South Africa staff; they are a talented team, totally committed to finding the best available genetic solutions for their customers. I am confident that combining the great people of ABA South Africa with the product leadership of ABS will lead to increased sales, greater market share, and more and more satisfied ABS customers in South Africa!

Final Thoughts
“I would like to take an opportunity to once again thank the ABS South Africa team for their friendship, hospitality, and willingness to collaborate and identify ways to improve GMS, as well as the way we deliver genetic improvement to our customers. This trip will most-definitely be a career highlight for me. Please accept my sincere thanks.” Dan Bauer,  Genetic Management Programs Manager

ABS South Africa Booth, Cape Dairy Expo

New Holstein Graduates – A Note From the Field

Sugar-Drop Chase Kathy VG-85

By Aaron Horst, ABS Cornerstone Specialist

29HO14344 CHASE (Oman x BOLIVER)

I have seen a couple dozen CHASE daughters, and they have looked very encouraging—particularly with their udders.  Consistently snug mammary systems with nice texture have been the standout feature of these daughters.  They carry their udders high above the hocks, have correct teat size and placement, and have attachments that will wear well over multiple lactations.  These daughters move easily on a set of feet and legs tailored for concrete.  Although they have varied on strength and openness, my overall impression on nearly all the daughters has been positive.  The daughter below I helped picture scored VG-85 on a SET, and seeing her in person, she deserved every point.

Star-Rock Duston 4298 GP-82

29HO14297 DUSTON (Baxter x Goldwyn)

The limited number of daughters I’ve seen from DUSTON have impressed me.  He is an extremely appealing ABS Sexation™ sire, as his daughters have had fancy udders with extremely deep udder clefts, strong attachments, and prominent veining.  They look like they produce well as evidenced by their flat bone and silky hide.  I think they will develop their frames throughout their first lactation and stand out as 3 year olds.

Nolt Haddy 498-Grade

29HO14288 HADDY (Mac x Ramos)

HADDY is #2 at ABS for DPR at +3.1 and makes what I call “invisible” cows.  . There is nothing particularly extreme about his daughters to make them jump out, but that is precisely why he will please commercial customers.  As you could expect with his pedigree, his daughters track out on great feet and legs and are somewhat compact. Their udders are youthful with secure attachments and great teat placement although they will produce around herd average.  All this translates into trouble free cows that last, and they will be anonymously profitable for many lactations.

Prospect for April 2013   

My daughter inspections of April 2013 prospects are underway.  A sire showing early promise is 29HO14415 DYNASTY (Baxter x Goldwyn).  These daughters are superbly uddered with stylish frames and walk on great feet and legs.  A large commercial herd in Pennsylvania is milking eight of them, and their consistency impressed me.  Three are shown below.

        

December Prospects – A Note from the Field

By Kelly Driver, ABS Cornerstone Specialist – Northeastern States

So, What Are You Seeing That Looks Good?

“I am really excited by what I am seeing in the daughters of several of our prospective graduate bulls for the upcoming December sire summary!

Leading the way for me is 29H13916 JAGGER (Bolton X Titanic). This bull makes them very uniform – black, silky, average stature, good width and phenomenal udders – as though they were stamped out from a cookie cutter! We pictured one professionally this summer at a dairy here in New York. When I was there a few weeks ago, I found another photo-worthy daughter recently fresh again. It turns out the herd used 10 units of assigned ABS Cornerstone semen, resulting in five heifers – all milking in the herd today!

Damin Jagger 3383-Grade GP-80

Jagger 3384 in her working clothes

29H14038 MACE (Mac X Detroit)is another potential graduate whose daughters have been pleasing. The Mace daughters are medium stature and tend to be straighter in the leg. They have snugly attached udders and are milking well for their owners. Some of the daughters have sloping rumps. The daughter pictured here was just milked 2 hours before I was there and calved at 1-10. She is milking 81 pounds/day at the time of the picture. This herd has 4 daughters of MACE, ranging in score from 75 to 83 points for the classifier. (Incidentally, the heifer pictured is the 75 point heifer.)

Mace 2068 just after milking

Bolton sons are certainly making their mark on the industry and 29H14184 SENNETT (Bolton X Oman) could easily join that group. I haven’t seen as many of these daughters in my area, but the ones I have seen have been very balanced cows with good udders, like the one pictured below. Who wouldn’t mind milking an udder like that every day?

Sennett Sonya

And an August 2012 JERSEY Graduate we should certainly talk about…

29JE3630 MAGNIFICO (Lexington X Lemvig) offers a pedigree that is free of Impuls blood, +336M +1.4Type and +2.4 Jersey Udder Index. His component tests are +.12%F +.05%P. The daughters I have seen have been dairy and balanced. They have high and wide rear udders with good udder cleft. The leg tends to be straighter and they can be a bit sloped in the rump structure.”

Asia Investing Heavily in Genetic Improvement of Dairy Herds

ABS Global, Inc., the world leader in bovine genetics, is committed to providing developing Asian markets with the world’s most progressive and reliable genetics. The ABS Genetic Management System® (GMS®) is a genetic improvement program and one vehicle that is supporting customers in growing Asian markets. Japan, China and South Korea are three countries that have embraced the GMS program with success and gained confidence in ABS dairy products and services.

Balanced and consistent group of 1st lactation cows in an 8-year customer’s herd on the Japan GMS Tour

ABS is fortunate to be able to work with the Japan Livestock Trading Company (JLT) to provide customers with world-class genetics and services. Officially launched in 2004, Japan has experienced steady growth in number of cows evaluated and number of customers. Over 130,000 GMS recommendations were provided on Japanese dairies in 2011 – a 20% growth from prior year. There are now six full time GMS evaluators in Japan which work closely with the JLT sales team.

A strong testament to the advancement of the GMS program in Japan was the first-ever GMS tour, held in the spring of 2012. This tour was a great opportunity for a diverse group of customers to gather and see the GMS program at work. A group of progressive producers gathered with members of the JLT sales team, all six of JLT’s certified GMS evaluators, Dan Bauer, ABS North America’s genetic management programs manager and Graham Buchanan, Asia and Pacific manager.

Genus China staff along with Dan Bauer, genetic management programs manager and Emily Novinskie, GMS data manager during the official GMS launch in the spring of 2012.

In China, a spring 2012 GMS launch has proven that there is a need for genetic management services in one of the world’s most rapidly growing dairy markets. The Chinese GMS launch has been highly successful, as nearly 40,000 cows from Chinese dairies have already been mated through the program. The ABS China team is small, but they believe that GMS is extremely valuable and will be critical in assisting their customers improve profitably through genetic improvement.

ABS North America is very optimistic about the Chinese market, and Nancy Jiang, general manager of ABS China believes the business will pay more attention to advanced concepts, technologies, and software services in the future. The GMS program is only the beginning of a relationship between data and genetics, and China is hopeful that GMS will provide a value-added service to their dairyman and work to improve type, production and overall cow health.

GMS officially launched in South Korea in 2006. According to Mr. Cho (Roy) of ABS distributor Joong Ang Gene Tech. Co. Ltd., “There was a need for a more thorough a mating program in South Korea and several customers were looking for a flexible program that was more economical. GMS filled this need and has been growing steadily ever since.” Cho went on to state that GMS has been able to gain customer loyalty because the customers appreciate and value the service.

One aspect of the GMS program that keeps South Korean customers using the service is the detail the evaluator provides. Having a genetic professional discuss the herd goals and evaluate each cow has gained GMS credibility and customer loyalty. GMS results have been coming into the milking string for a couple of years and the customers are extremely satisfied with the balance and consistency of the GMS offspring. “They are eagerly waiting for the next generation of GMS results”, says Cho.

GMS is the world’s most widely utilized genetic management program, with a portfolio of nearly six million cows mated annually in over 30 different countries. The GMS program offers progressive genetic management, profitable solutions, and flexible service for herds of all sizes and goals.

ABS International Daughter Tour Day 3

Notes from Kylene Anderson, Global Dairy Product Specialist

The last day of the daughter tour we were taken through the beautiful rolling hillsides of Derbyshire to visit several more impressive ABS customer herds.  The first stop was Meldamar Holsteins where we able to see remarkable daughters of 29HO12572 BLUESKY and 29HO12645 DRAYMAN. The daughters fit the profile for each bull with sound locomotion with exceptional udder attachments. The herd is truly a family operation and an ABS Cornerstone® herd. They may be remembered by ABS customers and staff around the world for their SHOTTLE triplet heifers with a wonderful photo featured in many marketing pieces and calendars.

DRAYMAN & BLUESKY Daughters

The second herd of the day confirmed what we learned from day 2 of the tour – 29HO12686 Mascol MARS has an undeniable stamp of quality cows.  As you will see from the photo the moderate size, black hides and well attached udders built for longevity.

Mascol MARS Daughter

As Philip Dobson from the U.K. Cornerstone team stated,  “As you can see from the MARS daughters, especially including this outstanding cow today, you can see why we are very excited about the future of this bull.”

The third stop of the day took us to the last herd in Derbyshire for our visit, Sharplow Farm.  We were able to see a 29HO12646 BOSSMAN daughter that is cut out of the mold you expect to see from this bull just as his proof states – type, type, TYPE!  An incredibly correct framed cow with dairy strength, deep and open ribs, fantastic udder attachments and veination, she is the kind that any producer looking for type will be pleased to see in their herd.

BOSSMAN Daughter

A special thank you goes out to the U.K. Cornerstone team and the customer herds we visited for putting on a world-class tour with cows that impressed!