Since the DNA revolution (i.e. Genomics) AI organizations worldwide are more and more frequently using heifers as bull dams.  With so many different countries and different systems it’s hard to determine just what heifers truly are the best in the world.  We here at the Bullvine decided to bring some clarity.  The following is our analysis.

There are many different indexes and each index offers “home field advantage” to animals that are tested and developed within that country.  It is hard to compare animals from around the world on one single ranking.  It seemed logical   to develop 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 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.  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 Heifers

Key Findings

• By far the leading breeder of the top 50 was De-Su with 11 heifers on the list, followed by Select Sires with 6 and Sandy Valley with 4. There is no question that De-Su has been pushing the genetic accelerator to the max and this dominance of the list demonstrates the success they have been having.
• 36 of the top 50 animals are from the USA and 9 of the top 10.  Canada follows with 11 and Germany with 2.  This is mostly an indicator of how the national indexes (TPI and LPI) differ.  Since TPI and Net-Merit in the US have more health and fertility in them, and breeders tend to breed towards the national index, it’s understandable that the USA would dominate our list since we have put so much more emphasis on health and fertility.
• Numero Uno leads the way with 17 daughters on our list including the top 4 animals.  He is followed by Epic with 5 and Mogul with 4.  Considering Numero Uno’s ability to consistently leave progeny whose DGV’s are higher than their parent averages and combining that with his high health and fertility and balanced genomic indexes, it’s not surprising that he would dominate the list.
• Man-O-Man is the maternal grand sire of 10 animals on the list (Read more – Man-O-Man will he turn platinum?) followed by Planet with 9.  It is interestingly to note that the 3^rd and 4^th on the list, Observer and Superstition would have been test sires at time of mating.

Highlights

• Topping our list is SANDY-VALLEY NU PENELOPE.  Penelope is the Uno daughter of the #12 GTPI cow in the USA PINE-TREE MONICA PLANETA-ET VG-85-2YR.  Planeta is starting to become the next genomic superstar to join the likes of Ammon Peachy Shauna.  She is consistently able to produce progeny that are chart toppers and well above their parent averages.  In fact Planeta has 4 daughters on our list.
• 2^nd on our list comes from the Sully Shottle May family, DE-SU UNO 2145. 2145’s dam is an Observer daughter of May who just turned 2yrs old herself.    2145 is a great example of how De-Su is pushing the genetic advancement and, if we hadn’t incorporated reliabilities into our index, would have been #1 on our list.  But since her dam is yet to score and produce a milk record and she has 2 generations of genomic sires, her reliabilities are lower than Penelope’s.
• The top Canadian animal on our list is STE ODILE MOON MODEL AMALUNA.  Amaluna recently sold in TAG’s Genomic Power Sale for $110,000 (Read more – TAG’s Genomic Power Sale Averages an Outstanding $30,167).  Amaluna is the #5 GPA LPI heifer in Canada. Her Man-O-Man dam is due to calve in January 2013 but her 2nd dam is LES091 BAXTER MODEL RUBIS  VG-87-3YR-CAN who is the #27 GLPI Cow in Canada. This heifer has it all – production, durability, health and fertility as well as a very advanced sire stack, Moon x Man-O-Man x Baxter x Goldwyn.
• The top European animal on our list is HFP LUCETTE.  From Denmark this heifer traces back to the Lou Etta family from the US.  Lucette is also the #1 TPI animal from Europe and is actually only 76 gTPI points behind the #1 gTPI animal in the world De-Su 1438.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

With genomic indexes coming out monthly and each country having their own index with apparent bias, it can be very hard to keep track of all the top animals and compare them accurately.  Comparisons are instructive for informed decision making. That is why we developed the BPI formula.  As is evident from our analysis of the top heifers from around the world, there is no question that the USA is leading the way when it comes to the bull dams of the future and that breeding programs like De-Su, Select Sires and Sandy Valley are at the front of that charge.