It is a great result for New Zealand's dairy farmers, says LIC bull acquisition manager Malcolm Ellis, whose team is responsible for selecting the co-op's next generation of genetics.
"Given that we are responsible for around three out of four calves born on New Zealand dairy farms, we have a responsibility to continue to drive genetic gain for the industry and our farmers, and set new benchmarks in production efficiency.
"These results will not only reaffirm their investment into high quality genetics this season, but also their co-op's investment into breeding programmes to deliver new genetics which supersede the previous generation.
"It shows farmers that the absolute lion's share of the top bulls are with their co-operative. We are 100per cent committed to getting the best bulls on to your farm, in the most cost effective way and as soon as possible once we have that sire proof information."
Ellis said the results are a culmination of a solid breeding programme, outstanding sire proving scheme and careful selection criteria.
"One of the things I really enjoy about this job is that you can't hide from the numbers. Everything is measured. If you pick bulls of high genetic merit they will deliver on the RAS list.
"Often individual farmers have elements of personal selection criteria but the RAS list is the industry's independent measure of excellence, based on the industry-designed and owned national breeding objective."
A number of the new 2011-born bulls will now form part of LIC's premier Forward Pack team, available to farmers this spring.
Their addition will strengthen the team's appeal to many farmers who are looking to get their hands on the fresh new genetics for their herd as early as possible, Ellis said.
New number one Jersey sire - Bonacord TGM Brock
The country's new number one Jersey sire, Bonacord TGM Brock 312023, was bred by the Allisons (Peter and Raelene Allison and family) and their super cow family in Outram, south of Dunedin.
Born in 2011, Brock's elite status as an artificial breeding sire was originally identified in his DNA, which saw him enter LIC's Sire Proving Scheme (SPS) in 2012 and become available in the co-op's genomically selected Premier Sires team.
From this early utilisation and now freshly graduated from SPS, Brock has 328 daughters milking on farms around the country. With their herd testing data now available, he has debuted on the DairyNZ RAS list (10 October 2014) with 280 breeding worth (BW) and 74per cent reliability.
By the end of this season, he will have just over 1000 daughters. He also has two half-brothers in LIC's sire proving pipeline and three other relatives.
Following the DairyNZ animal evaluation update, Brock has joined LIC's premier Forward Pack of bulls available to farmers this spring, taking the Jersey team up to average 281BW.
* For more, farmstrong.co.nz.
