Liberty Genetics bull teams make major genetic gains

MEDIA RELEASE For Immediate Release 9 July 2014

Liberty Genetics bull teams make major genetic gains over past decade

Herd improvement company, Liberty Genetics, today released ten years of breeding worth (BW) statistics on its Jersey, Friesian and Crossbred bull teams.

The numbers show that the BW values of its bull teams are ranking well against the other top sire teams in the country.

Dr Dave Hayman, Liberty Genetics Manager of Genetic Development, said, On average, across our three sire teams theres only around five BW difference between our sire team and other top performing teams. This includes NZ Animal Evaluations adjustments for young bulls.

Dr Hayman has overseen the companys breeding programme since 2006. He said the most impressive statistics are for Liberty Genetics Jersey bull team, which show an average annual BW gain of $15 year-on-year over the past decade; a gain of 146 BW in ten years.

Our team is right up with the top Jersey teams in New Zealand with the average BW for our 2014 Jersey bull team sitting at $243.

BW is the basis on which New Zealand ranks dairy bulls and cows based on their expected ability to produce profitable and efficient replacements. The traits currently included in BW calculations are: protein, milkfat, milk volume, liveweight, fertility, residual survival and somatic cell count. (source: http://www.nzael.co.nz)

Dr Hayman says Liberty Genetics BW improvements are impressive as its breeding programme is young compared to the industry, as it was only formed in 1998.

When it comes to BW gain, the cow population lags behind the bulls. Cow population gains have typically been around nine to ten BW per year for the past ten to fifteen years. Whereas the New Zealand sire population has typically gained around twelve to thirteen BW per year over that same period.

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Liberty Genetics bull teams make major genetic gains