The first sire summary of 2021 is quickly approaching and although much of this year has resembled 2020, we are thankful to be receiving more visits from the Select Sires Inc. Sire Analysts as travel restrictions lessen across the country. For example, Select Sires Inc. Holstein Sire Analyst Kevin Jorgensen has already made several visits to All West Territory this year. We recently caught up with him to learn more about what he admired while on the west coast.
Select Sires Inc. Holstein Sire Analyst, Kevin Jorgensen
Greetings to everyone in All West Territory! As things are becoming slightly more “normal”, one of my highlights this winter was getting back to California and seeing cows and the great people who care for them. Even though I am not on the road quite as frequently as I was in pre-COVID times, it has been refreshing to get back out in corrals across the country and see cows with my own eyes. It has been exciting to see daughters and several bull dams of our sires! Below, I am sharing a few notes from my recent travels.
One of my favorite travels was a trip to California in February. One of the highlights of this trip was traveling to Hilmar Holsteins. The Matheron family has an amazing dairy and the cows looked fantastic! Some of the best second-lactation cows were sired by 7HO12897 SAMURI. They are good first-lactation cows that turn into even more impressive second lactation cows. They are snug-uddered and mature through their frame traits. He has definitely become a customer satisfaction specialist!
Maybe even more impressive were the dams of three Hilmar-bred bulls currently available in the Select Sires, Accelerated Genetics and Genervations product lines. 250HO15211 CAVIAR’s dam is an absolutely amazing second-lactation cow! As a sire analyst, she is the kind who makes me very proud that we have one of her sons in our lineup. She was GP-83 as a two-year-old, but will be a very high scoring cow in the future. At +2909 GTPI, CAVIAR is perhaps one of our best sons of 14HO14220 RIVETING and is also +2.10 PTAT and +2.10 UDC, which makes sense after seeing the dam.
Hilmar-D Imax 14077-ET, dam of 250HO15211 CAVIAR
7HO15306 Hilmar Legacy Warner’s dam, Hilmar-D Imax 14106-ET, is equally as impressive with a smashing udder and now VG-85, also destined to raise in score. His grandam is an EX-92 cow that I have always loved and Warner is also one of my favorite 7HO14250 LEGACY sons. At +2942 GTPI and 830 NM$, he checks nearly every box of traits that are important to modern producers.
Hilmar-D Imax 14106-ET (VG-85-VG-MS)
Lastly, 7HO15212 Hilmar Rome ARCHER’s dam is also fresh with her second calf, scored VG-85, and has matured nicely with moderate stature and great feet and legs. He is also +2860 GTPI and 758 NM$ as well as A2A2 and BB kappa casein. These are three great bulls that are all bred in the All West market area that will make great additions to anyone’s breeding program.
Another bull bred in All West Territory that has been recently released is 7HO15472 HARPER, bred by the Vanden-Berge family in Bakersfield, CA. I saw several members of the cow family while in California and they were very impressive. His dam was unfortunately lost as a just fresh two-year-old, but I was at the dairy in 2019 just prior to her calving and she was an exceptional heifer. Harper is one of our highest Combined Fat and Protein sires at Select Sires at +175 CFP and one of 250HO14134 RENEGADE’s highest sons for GTPI at +2954 and +800 NM$, as well. He has a beautiful linear profile and hails from 14HO7770 HELIX’s maternal line.
Lastly, one of my favorite stops in California was Terra-Linda Dairy in Tulare. The Santos family runs an amazing dairy with high production from cows that look great doing it! Six bulls have come from this herd to Select Sires in the past two years with several more coming in 2021. One of my favorites is 7HO15339 Terra-Linda Tahiti JAWS-ET. He was released in October of 2020 and is +2908 GTPI and 744 NM$. Mike Santos used Tahiti with great success and this bull offers great production at over +1500 M, +1.7 DPR and +1.92 UDC.
Another Santos bred Tahiti son is 7HO15225 Terra-Linda SUNRISE-ET and is from a VG-85 young cow and he sires a very balanced linear profile and is +2864 GTPI and 727 NM$, as well as A2A2 and BB kappa casein. There are also two Terra-Linda sires in the Accelerated Genetics product line both sired by 14HO14085 SOLUTION. 14HO14995 BLUEBIRD is a breed leader in health and fitness traits at +7.7 PL and +1.9 DPR. Additionally, he is an A2A2 sire. 14HO15046 KINGBIRD follows the same path of health and fitness, but also offers +1373 M, is a leader in Mastitis Resistance and also is A2A2 and BB kappa casein.
In my other travels, I have had the opportunity to see many daughters of the FRAZZLED sons like SOLUTION, HUEY, MOOLA, RIVETING, TAHITI, ROME, BIG AL, FUTURE, FYI and even a few of the first LEGACY daughters calving and am happy to say I have been impressed with all of them!
Saving the best for last, we have seen many daughters of 250HO14134 RENEGADE and as a sire team we are in agreement that they might be some of the most impressive daughter groups we have seen in years! They are marvelous uddered, have the right set to their feet and legs and are balanced framed cows that have customer satisfaction written all over them. Stay tuned in April to see his first daughter proven sire summary, but more importantly in August 2021 when he really adds appreciable data.
S-S-I Renegad 8235 10203-ET (GP-82)
Owner: Michael & Julie Duckett, Rudolph, WI
As you can probably tell, it is very exciting for me to get back on the road and see cows again! We as a sire team are looking forward to the April 2021 Sire Summaries that will hopefully have more good news to share with you. I hope all is well on your dairy. Stay safe!
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