While there is no doubt that national composite index’s (TPITM, LPI, PLI etc.) are great marketing tools, recently there has been discussion about their merits as actual genetic advancement tools. With each index providing “home field” advantage to domestic animals and many out of date with where the industry is headed, we here at the Bullvine have developed the Bullvine Performance Index (BPI).
In the BPI we use direct genomic values instead of parent averages and we also incorporate reliabilities, in order to greater account for animals whose indexes stand the best chance of being stable over time. As far as what traits we looked at, we have used an equally balanced weighting between production, longevity and health and fertility, as we see that emphasis represents where the market is heading. We also include a small component (MPS) that factors in dam, 2nd dam and 3rd dam actual performance irrelevant of country of origin, as per our discussion with many breeders who feel that this should have some weight. Instead of trying to be reactionary to the marketplace like most composite indexes, we are trying to be leading and ahead of the market. We also are publishing BPI as a percentage so that it is clear just how far apart each animal is from each other. Since this is a ranking index we felt it was more important to show the range between animals than to give a number that technically means nothing.
Top 50 BPI Sires
Sire Name BPI Production Longevity Health and Fertility MPS
MR LOOKOUT P ENFORCER-ET 100% 97% 94% 78% 96%
LONG-LANGS OMAN OMAN-ET 94% 99% 60% 19% 96%
COYNE-FARMS DORCY-ET 93% 58% 93% 50% 95%
SOUTHERN-HILLS BAYARD-ET 90% 68% 87% 78% 99%
HAMMER-CREEK FRED KRUNCH-ET 89% 74% 77% 84% 96%
GOLDDAY 89% 45% 96% 47% 99%
ZANI BOLTON MASCALESE ET 87% 94% 64% 34% 94%
TEXEL BEAUTY COSMO-ET 86% 77% 81% 54% 98%
AMIGHETTI NUMERO UNO ET 86% 65% 92% 70% 96%
CO-OP BOSSIDE MASSEY-ET 85% 79% 48% 59% 92%
UFM-DUBS OLEGANT-ET 85% 48% 66% 70% 95%
BADGER-BLUFF FANNY FREDDIE 85% 74% 51% 63% 89%
RMW ANCHOR-ET 85% 82% 84% 67% 96%
FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHMONEY-ET 84% 84% 92% 52% 99%
MOUNTFIELD SSI DCY MOGUL-ET 84% 83% 89% 43% 97%
LIRR DREW DEMPSEY 84% 34% 85% 49% 97%
RMW DORCY AMBROSE-ET 83% 59% 100% 61% 96%
CERVI ALLEMAR ET 83% 39% 74% 79% 94%
WABASH-WAY EXPLODE-ET 83% 58% 87% 28% 96%
MR LOOKOUT P EMBARGO-ET 83% 84% 91% 43% 96%
CRACKHOLM FEVER 81% 33% 85% 42% 96%
STANTONS BOOKKEEPER 80% 84% 86% 53% 95%
SEAGULL-BAY SARGEANT-ET 80% 97% 62% 50% 94%
CO-OP O-STYLE OMAN JUST-ET 80% 66% 40% 66% 96%
CERVI PHONIC 80% 38% 48% 100% 94%
FARNEAR-TBR-BH CASHCOIN-ET 79% 92% 74% 41% 99%
CO-OP BOOKEM YUXI 78% 75% 95% 53% 93%
O-BEE MANFRED JUSTICE-ET 78% 85% 11% 50% 93%
DE-SU JEROD 1223-ET 77% 82% 83% 60% 93%
COYNE-FARMS DORCY YIM-ET 77% 61% 87% 65% 92%
GENERVATIONS LIQUID GOLD 77% 100% 79% 27% 98%
MR LOOKOUT PSC ALTADRUM-ET 77% 99% 55% 57% 97%
COYNE-FARMS BOLTON DOM-ET 76% 70% 70% 21% 95%
COYNE-FARMS JACEY CRI-ET 76% 82% 64% 69% 94%
GEN-I-BEQ BRAWLER 76% 56% 68% 18% 97%
WELCOME BOL LATHAM-ET 75% 93% 50% 7% 99%
SILDAHL JETT AIR-ET 75% 41% 79% 42% 96%
MORNINGVIEW LEVI 75% 86% 35% 35% 96%
DE-SU GILLESPY-ET 74% 72% 77% 0% 96%
COYNE-FARMS SHOTLE YANCE-ET 74% 87% 42% 37% 91%
DE-SU DISTINCTION 11130-ET 74% 92% 83% 40% 96%
REGANCREST ALTAIOTA-ET 73% 68% 49% 36% 97%
SYNERGY ALTAJENKINS 73% 47% 58% 67% 94%
S-S-I PEOTI MOWGLI-ET 73% 86% 61% 66% 95%
SULLY MCCORD 269-ET 72% 93% 69% 44% 94%
TOLLENAARS ALTAQUALITY 72% 54% 48% 67% 93%
S-S-I BOOKEM MORGAN-ET 71% 86% 65% 61% 95%
CROCKETT-ACRES EIGHT-ET 70% 79% 16% 29% 100%
S-S-I PEOTI MANSUR-ET 70% 88% 62% 53% 95%
GENERVATIONS FUZION 70% 88% 55% 52% 98%
Key Findings
- One of the neat things we found in developing this index is that it is able to give a realistic comparison between sires from all countries.
- Even more importantly it also gives a good comparison of genomic test sires versus proven sires. Four of the top ten sires are proven sires, as compared to most national indexes that, when combining the genomic sires and the proven sires would find that at least nine if not all ten would be genomic test sires.
- Outside of MR LOOKOUT P ENFORCER most of the sires are very close and really do warrant that you make sure you use the corrective mating for your specific animal as opposed to just using the top 5 or 10 bulls.
- Another finding was the ability for second crop sires to also compare favorably with genomic test sires. Besides Man-O-Man (LONG-LANGS OMAN OMAN-ET) other second crop sires who come up high are UFM-DUBS ALTAESQUIRE-ET (BPI of 68%) and BRAEDALE GOLDWYN (BPI of 66%). This demonstrates that these high reliability sires very much still have value in many mating programs.
Highlights
- There is no question that MR LOOKOUT P ENFORCER offers an extremely balanced package. His strong production numbers combined with his extreme type and longevity with good health and fertility traits will have him be a sire of sons worldwide. He may be hard to get your hands on as he is just one year old and he may only be released for contract matings. This Marbri Facebook son has the highest DGVs in the breed. Look for him to sire extreme component yields from strong dairy cattle with great feet and legs. One area to be cautious on using him is his body depth. Both his sire stack and his DGVs would say this area needs protecting.
- There is no question that this last proof round Man-O-Man (LONG-LANGS OMAN OMAN) stole the show. His outstanding second crop daughter numbers have many top index breeders going back and using him again. His extreme production numbers have him and his daughters in high demand. With many sons like UNO also coming on the scene and offering a more balanced offering, it’s important to make sure you use Man-O-Man or maybe GENERVATIONS LIQUID GOLD when looking for the splash of production for a high type, high health and fertility mating. However hold off, if you are looking to improve those areas. Use a more balanced sire like MR LOOKOUT P ENFORCER-ET or maybe SOUTHERN-HILLS BAYARD-ET.
- Coming up strong, as he keeps adding daughter numbers, is COYNE-FARMS DORCY. Look for Dorcy to sire balanced dairy cattle that have great udders and very good feet & legs, though he will need to be protected for dairy strength, fat percent and, specifically, for his body depth and chest width.
- Also catching our eye are a couple of Freddie sons – SOUTHERN-HILLS BAYARD and HAMMER-CREEK FRED KRUNCH. Both these sires offer a greater type and longevity option over their sire BADGER-BLUFF FANNY FREDDIE who suffers on our BPI index as his second and third dam’s classification and performance scores are low.
- The top non- North American sire on our list is GOLDDAY. Goldday is a Goldwyn son from A-L-H DESTINY VG-87-3YR-USA DOM GMD. Destiny is of course the popular bull mother from Markwell Durham Daisy (Read more – Markwell Durham Daisy – 2012 Golden Dam Finalist), proven in Germany. Goldday is also the full brother to former #1 German sire Danillo. Look for Goldday to sire unbelievable udders and legs as well as long herd life. One area where you will want to protect Goldday is rump angle. Be cautious in using him on cattle that need production improvement.
The Bottom Line
It is difficult to keep track of all the top animals and compare them accurately. Trying to compare genomic sires with proven sires with each country having their own index with apparent bias makes it doubly hard. Having said that, comparisons are instructive for informed decision-making. That is why we developed the BPI formula. Contrary to popular belief that you need to be using 100% genomic sires to accelerate your genetic advancement, our analysis shows absolutely that there are proven sires that should be used in order to minimize your risk and still achieve the greatest results.
