Herdlife Builder™: For Long Term Profitability

Improving longevity can lead to improved profitability. Herds made up of longer-lasting cows have more cows milking during their peak production ages and require fewer replacements. USDA’s PTA for Productive Life (PL) has proven to be a useful tool but it still takes a long time for these values to reach high reliability. Type traits can serve as valuable indicators of longevity and in addition can be used to a select a more consistent and uniform herd.

The Herdlife Builder designation was introduced in 2003 and has served as a useful indicator of sires with the combination of type traits that lead to improved longevity in large, commercial herds. With an expanding database of PL information, Select Sires has revised the criteria used to determine Herdlife Builder sires. The revision was made after listening to customers who requested that we help them make cows that last longer in larger, commercial confinement operations.

To determine the new criteria, we assembled a database of 1,000 sires that most recently achieved high reliability PL values. This database was then analyzed to identify the combination of type traits that are most related to longevity. This analysis was used to develop an index that selects for bulls with shallow udder depth, high feet and legs score and lower dairy form. In addition, the index includes stature, rump angle and rear teat placement so that we can avoid breeding cows that are too big, have rear teats that are too close or have high pins. Sires that rank highest for this index and are not in the top third of active- A.I. sires for stature will receive the Herdlife Builder designation. Searching out bulls with this designation will help producers focus on those bulls that sire type traits that lead to long-lasting cows.

Holstein sires carrying the Herdlife Builder designation are chosen based on a composite of type traits that are predictive of productive life with the following relative weights:

33% Udder Depth
-33% Stature
13% Feet and Legs Score
-7% Rear Teat Placement
7% Dairy Form
Bulls in the top third for stature among active-A.I. sires do not qualify (=2.04 for August 2009)
Bulls need to have PTA PL > 0.

As indicated in the following table, Herdlife Builders, on average, out-perform average active-A.I. Holsteins for Productive Life and Udder Composite, while offering moderate stature.

	Productive Life	Udder Composite	Stature
Herdlife Builders Average	+2.7	+2.16	+0.95
Active-A.I. Average	+1.6	+1.67	+1.46

August 2010 Holstein Herdlife Builders

Place your mouse over the symbols to view designations.

Name	Milk	NM$	PL	PTAT	UDC	FLC
7HO6758 MR SAM	46	191	0.9	1.57	1.31	1.81
7HO7173 ROLEX	696	250	0.7	0.80	0.71	0.92
7HO7463 PONTIAC	37	1118	0.6	2.05	2.70	1.89
7HO7560 BLITZ JINTX	1894	293	1.5	0.49	0.87	0.86
7HO7839 PLUS	437	266	1.6	0.95	1.06	2.09
7HO8039 APACHE	154	48	1.2	1.47	1.20	2.09
7HO8223 LAWN BOY P-RED	42	344	4.7	1.12	1.56	1.33
7HO8351 LUCIUS	428	196	2.3	1.13	1.88	2.33
7HO8530 AUTUMN	588	416	0.8	0.58	0.56	2.14
7HO8625 BUTCH	559	384	1.4	0.04	0.72	1.09
7HO8772 GROOVY	437	355	1.6	1.15	1.14	2.10
7HO8777 GENERAL	664	260	1.6	2.37	2.79	1.29
7HO8946 RHOMAN	233	459	3.8	0.75	0.73	3.30
7HO8946 ROLAND	1424	439	4.8	1.77	1.58	1.36
7HO9030 RICHMAN	991	433	4.0	2.14	2.65	1.86
7HO9069 INGLES	475	449	4.7	0.82	0.64	1.47
7HO9173 PLATO	978	574	6.2	1.59	2.17	1.96
7HO9176 MINISTER	242	411	3.3	1.34	1.16	1.70
7HO9510 CONNER	1369	504	3.3	1.63	2.13	0.12
= New Active Sire for August 2010 = gender SELECTed™ Sire = Eligible for semen export to Canada = Superior Settler™ Designation = HealthMark™ Sire = FeedPRO™ Sire = Diamond SELECTion

Herdlife Builder status for Jersey sires is based on the following criteria:

Top 50% for JUI (JUI = 4.18)
Top 50% for Foot Angle (PTA Foot Angle = 0.5)
Not among the top 20% for Dairy Form (PTA Dairy Form < 1.8)
Above breed average for PL (PTA PL > 0)

August 2010 Jersey Herdlife Builders

Name	Milk	NM$	PL	PTAT	UDC
7JE590 ACTION	148	232	3.3	1.9	5.17
7JE679 RAY	282	147	1.1	1.1	3.32
7E762 FANTOM	87	310	4.9	1.1	4.41
7JE821 SPECTACULAR	112	331	3.1	0.9	3.61
7JE859 RILEY	406	255	3.9	1.7	4.93
7JE867 GOVERNOR	-532	50	2.1	1.5	3.53
236JE146 ZUMA	-16	646	7.5	0.0	2.69
= New Active Sire for August 2010 = gender SELECTed™ Sire = Eligible for semen export to Canada = Superior Settler™ Designation = HealthMark™ Sire = FeedPRO™ Sire = Diamond SELECTion

™Herdlife Builder, FeedPRO, Select Mating Service, gender SELECTed and Superior Settler are trademarks of Select Sires Inc.

To order product contact:
Select Sires Inc., 11740 U.S. 42 North, Plain City, Ohio 43064 / Phone: (614) 873-4683 Fax: (614) 873-5751