The summer of 2016 will go down in the books for many of you as one of the hottest summers on record and I hope that relief for you and your cows comes soon! Here’s a brief summary of the bulls that will heat up the sire summaries in just a couple weeks.
7HO11836 Miles (Robust x VG-88 Al x VG-85 Zenith)
Miles has quickly earned the respect of those who milk them as well those who have viewed them on tours. They are simply the best young sire group we have seen recently. He will be a milk sire but what makes him a bit different from the other Robust sons is that they are a bit cleaner-boned and a bit milkier looking, with a hint of style. He sires a very solid type pattern and his bonus is that he is an excellent sire fertility bull at +1.5 SCR. He could be right at the top of the proven sire ranks with a TPI nearing 2500 GTPI and his bottom side pedigree is a bit different with his dam being an awesome VG-88 7HO10176 Al daughter from a very solid family in Minnesota. This bull is a lock to return to active service.-
7HO12008 Halogen (Petrone x VG-88 Man-O-Man x VG-88 Goldwyn)
I have seen more Halogens than any other daughter group and have really liked them across the country. In fact, several of the best I’ve seen have been in the All-West area! He was always known as a health and fitness specialist and he will not disappoint us as he is one of the breed’s best for Somatic Cell Score and Daughter Pregnancy rate. The difference with the Halogens is normally the high health trait sires produce cows that are a bit rounder and less flashy, but the Halogens are terrific type cows and don’t miss from the hips back. The fact that he traces to the same maternal line as Durham is not surprising when I see the Halogen daughters. He stamps those great feet & legs and udders like the early Durham daughters had nearly two decades ago. The question I get from most breeders is, ‘Are they going to milk?’ I see the Halogens as more persistent cows and will probably go dry more than they are milking at 60 days in milk. His sire, Petrone, did similar things and his daughter group was just voted best daughter group at the 2016 SMS conference. I think that Halogen will not have a high milk proof but with his health and fitness, Calving ease, sire fertility and a Mogul, Robust and Planet-free pedigree, he should be a bull that can fit in a wide variety of mating programs.
7HO11926 Defender (Mogul x EX-90 Man-O-Man x EX-93 Durham)
The Defender daughters that I have seen over the summer are extremely good-uddered young cows as you would expect from a Mogul son. They are also the kind of cows that look better each time I see them. He will sire more strength and substance than Mogul himself, but perhaps with a better foot and leg. He will sire more moderate production, but is a component improver. He was very popular as a Super Sampler so he’ll graduate with a lot of data. This also makes him an easy bull to use on heifers with a Calving Ease of 6.4% with over 8,000 observations.
Kevin Jorgensen
Stay tuned on August 10th for the official news on this trio of bulls and all the other highlights of what proves to be another dominating sire summary for Select Sires!
Kevin Jorgensen
Holstein Sire Analyst
Select Sires, Inc.
kjorgensen@selectsires.com
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