Whether you are committed to milking purebred Jerseys or a crossbred herd that is making decisions regarding your F1 offspring, Select Sires’ Jersey sire lineup delivers reliable, consistent and athletic cows that enhance efficiency and drive profitability.
Maximize genetic gains consistently
Research shows that genomic predictions for Jersey sires are not as accurate as Holstein sires. While genomic Predicted Transmitting Abilities (gPTAs) for Jersey traits are more reliable than using Parent Averages, the accuracy of gPTAs is not high enough to justify heavy use of an individual young sire. One example provided by the American Jersey Cattle Association compares performance data from 239 Jersey bulls that were born from 2010 to 2017 that now have more than 500 milking daughters in their genetic evaluations. For each sire, the genomic PTAs were more accurate than the PAs, but the young sires in this data set were over evaluated by 35 JPI™ points.
Jersey breed experts including Herby Lutz and Brad Barham continue to believe that young sires have an important role in genetic strategies! However, the ratio of young to proven sires used in a progressive Jersey herd will look much different than a genetic plan created for Holstein breeders. Work closely with your Select Sires representative to outline your goals and generate a genetic plan that prioritizes the use of high reliability proven sires while still leveraging elite genomic young sires.
Made by progressive producers, for progressive producers
Pedigree-proven is the hallmark of our Jersey program and it is made possible through strategic partnerships. By working with progressive Jersey herds throughout the U.S., including Jerseyland Sires, elite genetics are developed from high-performing maternal lines. These partnerships also create opportunities to verify young sire fertility, sexed semen fertility and generate daughter-proven performance feedback to improve genetic predictions and reliability.
