Holsteins maintain autumn calving dominance

Autumn block calving herds looking ahead will find their most profitable choice of sires by using the Autumn Calving Index (£ACI), an across-breed ranking which is dominated, as usual, by the Holstein breed.

Jointly taking the lead with an ACI of £617 are Hoanster Zanzibar and Westcoast Guarantee, the latter making his debut as a daughter-proven bull.

View-Home Littlerock holds his third position with an ACI of £591 while Seagull-Bay SR Stardust rises to fourth from seventh position (ACI £584).

Long-term headliner, Teemar Shamrock Alphabet (ACI £572) drops from first to fifth place, while continuing to transmit the best daughter fertility and TB resistance in the top five bulls.

Reminding producers that the Spring and Autumn Calving Indexes should only be used in tight block-calving herds, Fern Pearston, animal genetics manager for AHDB Dairy says: “These indexes are expressed across breeds, which makes them a particular help to producers involved in cross-breeding, or those considering a change of breed. However, this means it’s very important not to look at the components of the index and compare them with other Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) used in the calculation of £PLI, as these are each expressed against that breed’s average and on that particular breed scale.”

TABLE 1: TOP 20 BULLS RANKED ON £ACI – APRIL 2020