This achievement comes as ABS Global claims the top five Holstein polled genomic bulls in the country — and six of the top 10 — in the latest Australian Breeding Values release.
Perfecting polled genetics, to ensure there’s no compromise when breeding animals that do not require disbudding, has been a long-term focus for ABS Global.
With farm operation costs continuing to rise, farmers are benefiting from the savings associated with no de-horning when using these polled sires.
ABS Global Australian business operations manager Bruce Ronalds said strong local demand for bulls that “tick all the boxes” has shaped ABS’s strategic matings, delivering a new generation of high-performing polled sires.
“We have four polled bulls over 500 Balanced Performance Index (BPI), so there’s no excuse for not having polled,” Bruce said.
“There’s no compromise on profit, production or health traits, while reducing the cost of disbudding.”
Bruce said new sires Denovo 23176 HIGHFERT-PP-ET and Denovo 21598 HAYWARD-PP were the result of targeted breeding for the Australian market.
“ABS identified a high-ranking genomic overseas cow, strategically mated her to the highest polled bull ESTATE PP and we got exactly what we needed — and most importantly — what the industry wanted.”
ELLIS-PP, at 485 BPI and 61 daughters across eight milking herds, was the original polled Holstein to deliver the complete breeding package, he said.
Farmers embraced him as a genomic sire years ago — and he has since become Australia’s biggest-selling polled Holstein.
ELLIS-PP excelled in Daughter Fertility, Production and Health. Now, with an additional 34 BPI points and a lift to 115 in Daughter Fertility, the arrival of milking daughter data is confirming his genomic predictions and delivering profit on-farm.
South Gippsland farmer Roy Opray is among those seeing the results, now milking nine ELLIS-PP daughters in his herd.
He’s been impressed with their nature — how quiet they are in his 230 to 240-cow herd — their udders, teat length and general structure.
“When we picked ELLIS-PP we were looking at Calving Ease, Temperament, Teat Length and — the main thing — that he was polled,” Roy said.
“Having polled animals means it’s just one less job to do at a time of the year when it’s always busy.”
An avid user of sexed and polled genetics — with a focus on breeding for Calving Ease and black animals — he’s used ELLIS-PP again and bulls including ESTATE-PP, DENOVO 19187 EMPORIA-P-ET, JERONIMO-P-ET and BOMAZ POMPEII-PP-ET.
Roy reared 99 heifers this year and only 29 had horns — something he’s pleased about as it cuts his workload and costs.
For those looking for the next new polled genetics, HIGHFERT-PP at 539 BPI and HAYWARD-PP at 522 BPI are full brothers sired by DENOVO 4798 ESTATE-PP-ET at 528 BPI, but unlike ESTATE-PP, HIGHFERT and HAYWARD are A2 carriers and offer elite daughter fertility.
WARATAH OBERON-P — the Gippsland-bred son of ELLIS-PP — has risen to number four on the ABV genomic ranking at 574 BPI, adding important gains in Survival, Daughter Fertility and Mastitis Resistance.
High Daughter Fertility sire CHAD PP at BPI 518 rounds out the top performers and continues to add daughters to his Australian proof.
In the proven space, farmer favourite ABS JERONIMO-P still holds strong in the top four Australian proven sires at 457 BPI and has never dropped out of the top five since becoming proven in August 2021.
Hoogerhorst Dg Oh RUBLES RED is still the number one Australian proven for type and is now number six Australian proven.
Go to www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au for ABS Global’s ABV results for Jerseys and Aussie Reds.
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