Jersey Sire Usage: What Bulls Are Breeders Actually Using

Jersey breeders read about their breed’s top genetic sires, the popular show ring sires and the most promoted sires. However, do they know which Jersey sires are producing the next generation of milking cows in the United States and Canada? Even though the Jersey breed is garnering attention in commercial settings, The Bullvine is quite sure that even the most ardent Jersey breed enthusiast will not be able to list all ten of the sires with the most registered daughters. Just as we did for Holsteins, a few weeks ago, we have now studied the Jersey sires with the most registered daughters. (Read more: North American Sire Usage: Time changes everything)

Read on if you are interested in the recent genetic gains and what’s possible for the compact brown cows known for their high percentage of components, fertility, calving ease and heat tolerance.

Data Sources

Off the top, thank you to the American and Canadian Jersey Associations for providing us with the lists of sires. The Canadian lists derived through a search of the female registrations by year. The US list was obtained by reviewing the annual Jersey Journal list of the forty sires with the most registered sons. Those Journal listings also contained a column on the number of daughters for those forty sires and we selected from those listings.

To cover the recent period of considerable change and breed improvement in dairy genetics, our study included three years, 2008, 2012 and 2016. We analysed the genetic indexes for the top ten sires from each of the countries and years. To make comparisons equal we used the genetic index details for all sires from the April 2017 index run as available from the Canadian Dairy Network, Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding and Accelerated (now Accelerated-Select Sires) files.

Which Sires Were Used

The ten sires from each year and each country are listed in tables 1 and 2.

Table 1 Sires with the Most Registered Daughters* – United States

2008
Sire	Sire Stack	Interval**
Iatola	Paramount x Barber x Tops	7.25 yrs
Jacinto	Lemvig x Delco x Malcolm	7.25 yrs
Manny	Perimiter x Haug x Index	10.5 yrs
Q Impuls	IDE x BYG x Haug	9.75 yrs
Action	Avery x Berretta x Venture	9 yrs
Abe	Lemvig x Skyline x Legend	8.25 yrs
Rocket	Barber x Berretta x Lyndon	9.75 yrs
Jevon	Mecca x Daniel X Berretta	6.25 yrs
Matinee	Angel x Haug x Index	7.25 yrs
Country	Avery x Berretta x Lyndon	9.25 yrs
Average		8.5 yrs

2012
Sire	Sire Stack	Interval**
Eclipes-P	Action x Henery x Lemvig	6.75 yrs
Tbone	Jace x Lemvig x Delco	4.75 yrs ***
Valentino	Louie x Paramount x Lemvig	3.75 yrs***
Plus	Iatola x Artist x Tanic	5 yrs ***
Riley	Axtion x Paramoung x All A	6.75 yrs
Allstar	Maximus x Berretta x Major	7 yrs
Abbott	Lemvig x Hallmark x Berretta	7 yrs
Q Impuls	IDE x BY x Haug	13.75 yrs
Premier	Impuls x Jace x Berretta	3.25 yrs***
Action	Avery x Berretta x Venture	9 yrs
Average		6.7 yrs

2016
Sire	Sire Stack	Interval**
Lemonhead	Samson x Renegade x Hallm.	6 yrs
Calypso	Prescott x Headline x Iatola	3.5 yrs ***
Valentino	Louie x Paramnount x Lemvig	7.75 yrs
MacKenzie	Vinnie x Merchant x Impuls	3 yrs***
Harris	Volcano x Garden x Rocket	4 yrs***
Dimension	Renegade x Impuls x Param.	6 yrs
Archer	Volcano x Champ x Jacinto	3 yrs***
Regency	Visionary x Plus x Lexington	3 yrs***
Volcano	Legal x Paramount x Abe	6 yrs
Reno	Volcano x Maxim. x Ramus	3.75 yrs***
Average		4.6 yrs

* Listed in order of the ten sires with the most registered daughters
** Years from sire’s birth to the birth on July 1st, in the study year, of a daughter (in genetic studies known as Generation Interval)
*** Sire used based on genomic indexes

Table 2 Sires with the Most Registered Daughters* – Canada

2008
Sire	Sire Stack	Interval**
Senior	Councillor x Perim. X Gemini	7.75 yrs
Comerica	Remake x Renass. X Bruce	7 yrs
Sultan	Centurion x Jude x B Major	10 yrs
Legacy	Perimiter x Renass. X Lester	7 yrs
Iatola	Paramount x Barber x Tops	7.25 yrs
Country	Avery x Berretta x Lyndon	9.25 yrs
Jamacia	Councillor x Renass. X Bruce	7.5 yrs
Fusion	Berretta x Fascin. X Fneva	10.75 yrs
River	BigTime x Fusion x Montana	2.75 yrs***
Exploit	Jade x Sambo x Lad	2.75 yrs***
Average		7.25 yrs

2012
Sire	Sire Stack	Interval**
Legacy	Perimiter x Renass. X Lester	11 yrs
OnTime	Sultan x Delco x B Major	7.75 yrs
Iatola	Paramount x Barber x Tops	11.25 yrs
I Pod	Paramount x Parade x Delco	5.5 yrs***
Sultan	Centurionx Jude x B Major	14 yrs
Habit	Rocket x Remake x Jude	6 yrs
Blackstone	Parade x Delco x B Major	9 yrs
Minister	Jade x Fillpail x Pride	8.5 yrs
Kyros	Avery x BigTime x Haug	6.75 yrs
Comerica	Remake x Renass. X Bruce	11 yrs
Average		9 yrs

2016
Sire	Sire Stack	Interval**
Joel	Impuls x Paramount x Prize	5 yrs***
Beautiful	Iatola x Prize x Delco	7.25 yrs
David	Valentino x Impuls x Param’t	5.75 yrs
Bruce	Branson x Impuls x Barber	4.5 yrs***
Matt	Irwin x Tbone x Impuls	4 yrs***
Premier	Impuls x Jace x Future	7 yrs
Valentino	Louie x Paramount x Abe	7.75 yrs
Topeka	Merchant x Nathan x Morgan	6.5 yrs
Tequila	Primetime x Sambo x Regal	11 yrs
Colton	Avery x Connect’n x Prize	6.75 yrs
Average		6.5 yrs

* Listed in order of the ten sires with the most registered daughters
** Years from the sire’s birth to the birth on July 1st, in the study year, of a daughter (in genetic studies known as Generation Interval)
*** Sires used based on genomic indexes

Points of interest from these tables include:

No single sire dominates on the year or the country lists. A more diverse use of sires of daughters and sire stacks than we found in Holsteins. That speaks well for maintaining genetic diversity in Jerseys.
By studying sire stacks, it was found that United States’ breeders used Danish breeding earlier (e.,.2008) than did Canadian breeders. Eventually, the Danish influence also reached Canada. The Danish Jerseys are noted for their outstanding production with high component percentages.
The American bull Berretta appears in many of the sire stacks for 2008 and 2012 in the United States.
In Canada, it is descendants of American bred and Canadian owned cow, Duncan Belle, that appear in 2008 and 2012.
Genomically evaluated sires were more quickly available in the United States (2009) than in Canada (2011).
In 2016 in the United States six of the top ten sires of daughters were genomic sires. In Canada, in 2016, three of the top ten sires producing the most daughters had only genomic indexes. Jersey breeders may use more sexed semen than happens in Holsteins. Often young sires are not available in a sexed format since young sires produce much less semen that mature bulls.
Never-the-less, in 2016 in Canada the most used sire, Joel, was used based on his genomic information.
River and Exploit, two genomic sires, on the 2008 Canadian list were the exception to the rule of only using heavily daughter proven sires. Canadian Jersey breeders may know why these bulls appear in positions #9 and #10, but this writer can only assume it was about the popularity of bloodlines, promotion of these bulls or a lack of positive proven sires.
There are 16 sire listing lines (27%) where the generation interval between sire and daughter is nine or more years. Thus, in a quarter of the time, Jersey breeders decided to stick with older proven sires rather than use newly proven sires or genomic evaluated sires. Turning generations quickly of highly ranked sires did not in the minds of those breeders’ warrant giving up the performance they had seen in the past for new and less accurately evaluated sires.
Within a single year, only on three occasions does a sire overlap being on the top ten list for both the United States and Canada. That highlights the difference in general breeding philosophies that exists between the two countries.
Some sires overlap years within country. Since the years in the study are four years apart, sire-year-overlap shows that some breeders stay with using a chosen proven sire and do not move on to newer sires.
By 2016, Danish and Duncan Belle bloodlines figured prominently in the sires used to produce daughters in both countries.

Index Comparisons from 2008 to 2016

In both countries, the average indexes are quite similar in 2008 and 2012. However, in 2016 the indexes are much higher in genetic merit than what is seen in the other two years.

Table 3 Average Genetic Indexes* for Ten US Jersey Sires with Most Registered Daughters

	2008		2012		2016
	Average	Range	Average	Range	Average	Range
Milk lbs	-69	-1078 to 494	-39	-668 to 1331	894	69 to 2062
Fat lbs	13	-22 to 65	22	-26 to 65	50	20 to 92
Fat %	0.08	-0.08 to 0.34	0.12	-0.12 to 0.47	0.06	-0.17 to 0.33
Protein lbs	3	-23 to 24	10	-12 to 46	38	17 to 81
Protein %	0.03	-0.03 to 0.12	0.06	-0.03 to 0.16	0.03	-0.06 to 0.31
PL	1.1	-1.9 to 4.1	1.9	-1.1 to 6.2	4.2	2.5 to 6.2
SCS	3.02	2.87 to 3.30	3.04	2.89 to 3.24	2.93	2.80 to 3.08
DPR	0.7	-1.8 to 4.10	-0.6	-5.1 to 3.0	-1.4	-4.3 to 0.8
LIV	0.2	-1.9 to 4.1	0.3	-9.5 to 4.1	-0.7	-6.5 to 3.0
Final Score	0.1	-1.0 to 1.2	1	-0.2 to 2.0	1.4	0.20 to 2.0
U Clef	0	-0.7 to 1.6	0.4	-1.10 to 1.60	0.3	-0.20 to 1.00
U Depth	1.2	-2.3 to 2.3	1	-0.20 to 2.20	1.3	0.50 to 1.90
GFI (%)	7.1	3.4 to 9.8	8.3	4.1 to 11.3	8.4	6.0 to 11.3
JPI	28	-1 to 76	53	-20 to 87	128	85 to 213
CM$	110	-63 to 277	190	-61 to 341	442	280 to 739
NM$	102	-62 to 270	173	-69 to 335	421	286 to 702

* April 2017 genetic indexes were used to allow for comparisons on a common base

From Table 3 it clearly stands out that US Jersey breeders increased their focus on component yields from 2008 to 2016. Increasing from 16 lbs. fat + protein in 2008 to 88 lbs fat + protein in 2016. A genetic increase of 9 lbs of fat + protein per year was seldom seen in the past. Gains were also made in PL, Final Score, SCS, JPI, CM$ and NM$. But the gains were at the expense of fertility ( -25% in DPR) and cow livability (- 20% in LIV).

Table 4 Average Genetic Indexes* for Ten Canadian Sires with Most Registered Daughters

	2008		2012		2016
	Average	Range	Average	Range	Average	Range
Milk kgs	238(525#)	-850 to +1015	147(324#)	-985 to 1063	518(1142#)	-709 to 1678
Fat kgs	8 (17.6#)	-49 to +50	16(35.3#)	-31 to 39	35(77.1#)	-13 to 52
Fat %	-0.05	-0.53 to +0.44	0.12	-0.20 to 0.44	0.13	-0.15 to 0.77
Protein kgs	7(15.4#)	-31 to +30	11(24.2#)	-33 to 39	26(57.2#)	-18 to 47
Protein %	-0.03	-0.23 to +0.25	0.08	-0.05 to 0.25	0.09	-0.23 to 0.33
HL	103	98 to 111	100	92 to 110	102	99 to 106
SCS	2.96	2.78 to 3.28	2.98	2.78 to 3.22	3.01	2.85 to 3.20
DF	100	92 to 106	98	89 to 106	101	97 to 105
CONF	3	-5 to 8	4	-3 to 11	9	1 to 16
Mammary	3	-4 to 10	4	-5 to 10	9	4 to 13
U Depth	0	11 D to 7 S	2S	4 D to 7 S	3S	0 to 9S
Feet & Legs	1	-6 to 8	4	-3 to 18	6	-3 to 15
Inbreeding (%)	5.13	1.65 to 7.95	6.33	2.02 to 9.21	5.23	0.31 to 8.68
LPI	1188	881 to 1540	1285	987 to 1540	1579	832 to 1894
Pro$	403	-261 to 1054	411	-261 to 1054	1053	97 to 1475

* April 2017 genetic indexes were used to allow for comparisons on a common bases

Table 4 shows that Canadian Jersey breeders also increased the selection for fat + protein from 2008 to 2016. That increase was 46 kgs or 101 lbs., so even greater than in the US. In Canada, there were gains for fat %, protein %, conformation, LPI and Pro$. No gains were made in SCS, longevity (HL) and fertility (DF).

Overall, North American Jersey breeders annually increased the genetic merit of their herds by 12.5 JPI points, 50 LPI points, 40 CM$ points and 80 Pro$ points during the 2008 to 2016 time-period. That compares to +100 points per year in Holsteins for TPI and LPI, +75 in NM$ and 150 points in Pro$.

The sires of daughters from 2008 would not have been competitive in 2016. A close look at the 2012 sires used lists (in both US and Canada) shows that many sires ‘were long in the tooth and/or low in genetic merit’. The result was little or no genetic improvement in 2012 from 2008. Those same North American breeders turned it around and made significant genetic progress by 2016 by using top sires.

Country Differences in Genetic Gains

Another way of comparing what has happened in sire usage is to make the comparisons on a percentile ranking (often short formed to %RK or %ile) basis. To make this country comparison, The Bullvine went to the CDN publicly available files to bring the index values for the two countries to a common basis. To look at this on a different basis, we decided to compare using four categories – LPI, LPI Production, LPI Durability and LPI Health & Fertility.

Table 5 United States vs Canada Comparison of Sires with Most Registered Daughters

	United States			Canada
	2008	2012	2016	2008	2012	2016
Production	17%RK	34%RK	97%RK	17%RK	33%RK	85%RK
Durability	27%RK	73%RK	89%RK	23%RK	77%RK	89%RK
Health & Fertility	49%RK	47%RK	99%RK	35%RK	38%RK	96%RK

Note: Comparisons made using Canadain genetic indexes and Canadain percentile ranking tables as published by CDN

The take home messages comparing 2008 to 2016 percentile ranks from Table 5 include:

US Jerseys have made great gains in Component Production
Canadian Jerseys have made great gains in Durability
Neither US or Canadian Jerseys made gains in Health and Fertility. This is a lost opportunity for sure.
Jersey breeders need to be asking themselves if they have been giving away some of their breed advantages in fertility. And if breeding for cow health (aka wellness) and livability (LIV) need to be given more attention.

What the Future Can Hold

Breeding is about what the future will be. A synopsis of how 2016 top ten groupings of sires of daughters compared to the top ten sires available in 2017 is shown in Table 6.

Table 6 Comparison 2016 Daughter Sires to 2017 Available Sires

United States
	2016 Sires	2017 Proven		2017 Genomic
JPI	128	199	155%	221	173%
	(FS 1.4)	(FS 1.4)	100%	(FS 1.7)	121%
CM$	442	691	156%	743	168%
	(PL 4.2)	(PL 5.7)	136%	(PL 6.8)	162%
Canada
LPI	1579	1803	114%	2035	129%
	(CONF 9)	(CONF 7)	63%	(CONF 9)	100%
PRO$	1030	1472	143%	1881	183%
	(HL 102)	(HL 102)	100%	(HL 105)	166%

Note: HL (Herd Life, produced by Canadian Dairy Network) has an average of 100 and a standard deviation of 5. HL 105 is 166% in a standardized basis.

The potential for an increase in the genetic merit of Jerseys is clearly shown in Table 6. Increases from the sire averages in 2016 of up to 100 JPI points, $300 in NM$, 400 LPI points and 800 Pro$ points are possible by using the top 2017 sires based on their genetic (daughter proven or genomic) indexes. Note that there is no loss in type or longevity by using the top ten 2017 JPI, LPI, CM$ or Pro$ sires and potential gains range from 14% to 83%.

In short … Opportunity Knocks for North American Jersey Breeders to take advantage of the genetically superior sires that are available.

The Bullvine Bottom Line

Time marches on at a quick pace. It was enlightening for The Bullvine to learn that US Jersey has excelled at increased production and Canadian Jerseys at improved durability. Yet they both were not capturing the top genetics available for health and fertility.

The challenge for Jersey breeders in the future is to genetically improve the total cow – production, durability and health and fertility. A total and aggressive genetic improvement program will be needed to support the breed plans to become a larger proportion of the North American dairy cow population.