Winter 2017 Selections

WINTER 2017 Finding Success with CowManager

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VALENTINO: Setting the Record

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Genetics Work

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S ELECTIONS YOUR SUCCESS Our Passion.

Turn to page 10 to view the December 2016 sire summary highlights featuring 7HO12165 MONTROSS. Erbsen photo

Finding Value in Select Sires' Reproductive Services

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lthough the Perkins family of Twin Creek Farms in Wolcottville, Ind. had been working exclusively with Select Sires for their genetic needs for nearly 30 years, it wasn't until 2014 after hosting the National Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge contest that they realized they could use some help to improve their herd's reproductive performance. Turn to page 8 to learn more.

Is Falling Behind Robbing You of Profitability?

by David C. Thorbahn, president and C.E.O. There are three misconceptions you can have about making genetic progress in your herd: genetic performance is hard to measure, good is good enough and all studs have good bulls.

Evaluating genetic success in your herd may seem complicated, but it really is not. Rank your milking herd by a genetic estimate (i.e. genomic test results, PTA from DHI testing or sire PTA) for whatever value or trait you want to measure and include the actual individual cow performance by cow. Then, average the actual performance of each quartile. This will

give a snapshot of your herd that you can then use to make comparisons.

You will be shocked at what you will learn. In three herds that I examined, the top quartile for milk in each herd produced over 1,800 pounds more per cow than the bottom quartile.

When ranked by Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) or Cow Conception Rate (CCR), the top quartile averaged

™CONVERT is a trademark of Agrarian Solutions™, Middlebury, Ind. The product is merely distributed by Select Sires Inc. All claims, representations and warranties, expressed or implied, are made only by Agrarian Solutions™ and not by Select Sires Inc.

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more than 7 percent higher in whole -herd pregnancy rate than the bottom quartile. All herd's top quartiles were more than 28 percent whole-herd pregnancy rate, with two averaging more than 30 percent. This analysis confirms what Dr. Chad Dechow’s research showed; that with every $100 increase in Net Merit, you can afford to spend up to $15.91 more per unit for semen.

If you are not in the top 15 percent of the herds in the U.S. genetically, you are behind and not optimizing profitability from your herd. Good is not good enough. Even if a supplier gave you free semen, that would not be cheap enough when you have millions invested in your cows and facilities.

Elite genetics are worth every penny and more!

The world has changed; suppliers

are not equal when it comes to their lineups. Since 2008, Select Sires has made a significant investment in our genetic program and that has paid off.

Whether it is Net Merit or GTPI®, proven or young sires, Select Sires has roughly half of the industry’s top sires. When broken out by supplier, few, if any, of our competitors have more than 10 percent of the top sires in the industry, giving Select Sires five times the selection for your herd. Select Sires can deliver you a more profitable choice!

If you want help in evaluating your herd’s genetic ranking, please contact your local Select Sires representative.

Our staff of genetic consultants can help you. I am confident Select Sires can significantly improve your herd’s genetic performance. Remember, if you are falling behind genetically, you are being robbed of profits!

™Select DTX is a trademark of Select Sires Inc. and is manufactured by Agrarian Solutions™.

All claims, representations and warranties, expressed or implied, are made only by Agrarian Solutions and not by Select Sires Inc. Special pricing is available March and April 2017.

PTA Values Indicate Future Performance for Production and Fertility

by Chuck Sattler, vice president genetic programs, Select Sires Inc. Predicted Transmitting Ability (PTA) is the common unit of measure used to express genetic evaluations in the U.S. When used to choose A.I. sires, these values provide a useful indication of how much performance difference you can expect to see in the resulting daughters.

PTAs are expressed in the same units as the actual measurements used to evaluate daughter performance. This is an important concept to understand as it can be helpful to demonstrate how much change A.I. sire selection can produce and how much money to spend to obtain this level of change.

Genetic evaluations for production traits are expressed as PTAs. The units used in these evaluations are pounds of milk, fat or protein yield for a 305day lactation for a mature cow.

Higher PTA values are preferred for the production traits. PTA values can be used to compare sires. For instance, you expect that the daughters of 7HO12165 MONTROSS with a PTA Milk of +2,964 will produce 2,325 more

pounds of milk each lactation than daughters of 7HO11169 PETRONE with a PTA Milk of +639. Similar comparisons can be made with PTAs for Fat and Protein yield to show the level of expected production differences for milk components. Results on individual animals will vary but, if compared across a group of animals, PTAs will provide an accurate indication of future performance differences.

More than just production Dairy cows need to have a variety of capabilities in addition to being high producers of milk and components. When selecting A.I. sires it is important to consider a variety of traits as well as production so that offspring will be healthy, fertile and

trouble-free high-producing cows.

In today’s dairy economy, it is vital that herd fertility is maintained at a high level.

Genetic evaluations for a variety of fertility traits are routinely available for dairy sires. PTA values for Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) have been available since 2003. DPR evaluations use freshening dates to calculate the number of days open in each lactation and then rank bulls based on how quickly their daughters breed back after calving. By looking at days open, the DPR PTAs take into account how quickly after calving cows begin to cycle, how actively they display estrus and also their conception rate when bred.

DPR values range from +8.0 to –6.0. The PTAs are expressed in pregnancy rate percentage points and they represent the percentage of eligible cows that become pregnant during each 21-day breeding cycle. Higher values for PTA DPR are preferred.

Because these evaluations are expressed as PTAs we can compare A.I. sires and get a direct indication of how their daughters will perform. In the case of DPR, daughters of PETRONE with a PTA DPR of +6.9

will have pregnancy rates that are seven percentage points higher each breeding cycle than daughters of MONTROSS with a PTA DPR of -0.1. There is a lot of genetic variation that exists in fertility traits and the differences we see between sires can be substantial.

If you prefer to think of milking cow fertility in terms of days open, each point of DPR corresponds to about four days open.

Pinpointing fertility evaluations Recently there have been new fertility traits added to the evaluations to help finetune selection decisions. These traits are Cow Conception Rate (CCR) and Heifer Conception Rate (HCR). Like their name implies these PTAs are expressed in conception rate percentage points. These values come from breeding records compiled from dairies across the U.S. and then analyzed to determine whether or not the breeding resulted in a confirmed pregnancy. HCR indicates the ability of a bull’s daughter to become pregnant when bred prior to first calving.

CCR indicates a lactating daughter’s ability to conceive

Fertility PTA Definitions Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR): DPR values range from +8.0 to –6.0. The PTAs are expressed in pregnancy rate percentage points and they represent the percentage of eligible cows that become pregnant during each 21-day breeding cycle. Each point of DPR corresponds to four days open.

Cow Conception Rate (CCR): CCR values for A.I. sires range from +8.0 to -8.0. CCR indicates a lactating daughter’s ability to conceive when bred. You should expect to see bulls with high PTAs for CCR to also have high PTAs for DPR and vice versa.

Heifer Conception Rate (HCR): PTAs for HCR range from +5.0 to -4.0 in current A.I. sires. HCR is one of the few traits that provides an indication of differences in heifer performance. Based on reported conception rates, HCR may deserve greater emphasis in Jersey herds

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when bred. Higher values for HCR and CCR are preferred.

CCR values for A.I. sires range from +8.5 to -8.5. Comparing the PTA CCR of PETRONE at +8.1 to MONTROSS at +0.8 we can expect that lactating daughters of PETRONE will have conception rates that are 7.3 percentage points higher than MONTROSS daughters. This is consistent with the differences we see in PTA DPR for these two bulls. This is not surprising since conception rate is one of the factors that contributes to higher pregnancy rates and fewer days open. You should expect to see bulls with high PTAs for CCR to also have high PTAs for DPR and vice versa.

Most of our current genetic evaluations focus on lactating daughter performance but HCR is one of the few traits that provides an indication of differences in heifer performance.

Getting heifers bred early and getting them into the milking string quickly has value. PTAs for HCR range from +5.0 to -4.0

in current A.I. sires. Based on reported conception rates, HCR may deserve greater emphasis in Jersey herds than it does in Holstein herds.

One of the misconceptions that exist in the industry is that health and fertility traits have lower reliability than production and type traits and therefore do not deserve a high level of emphasis.

It is important to realize that the heritability and reliability are factored into the PTA calculation.

PTA values are scaled back for animals where the PTA is backed by limited data. This is done so that the PTA is a true indicator of expected future performance.

Rather than looking at reliability or heritability, it’s best to look at the range in PTA values and the overall economic value to determine how much selection emphasis a trait should receive.

PTA values are expressed in the same units used by dairy producers every day to evaluate the performance of their cows and heifers. Understanding PTAs

and using them to choose A.I. sires make them powerful tools to allow you to manage your breeding program, chart the

future progress of your herd and to make the most of your semen purchasing budget. 

Changes coming to Net Merit in April The Net Merit (NM$) evaluation will experience some changes during the April 2017 sire summary. Here are a few of the adjustments that will be made: • NM$ values will be slightly lower and the formula will use a lower milk price than the previous version • Fat will be emphasized slightly more while Protein will receive slightly less weight • Livability (LIV) will be added to the index with reduced emphasis on Productive Life (PL) to make room for LIV • The Holstein Association USA Body Size Composite will be used, which provides a more accurate indicator of overall body weight

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Finding Success with CowManager

by Lyle Kruse, vice president U.S. market development Select Sires Inc. In October of 2014, Select Sires began marketing the CowManager® system developed

by Agis Automatisering, an innovative ear tag device that monitors activity, rumination, feeding time and ear surface temperature. CowManager has since been installed in more than 400 dairy and beef operations across the U.S. and Canada and the value this system has provided to its owners has become one of the enjoyable things we get to see. Certainly some of the success of our customer-owners is a credit to our many system specialists that help manage the system and data available. Below are some of the most recent success stories from this herd management system.

Speedling Graner Farms, Kellogg, Minn.

Adam Graner is a co-owner and manages the dairy cow operation for Speedling Graner Farms, which milks 330 cows. They purchased their CowManager system in March 2016. Their decision to purchase CowManager was based on the need to improve their heat detection and to find sick cows sooner.

“With our growth in the number of milking cows and workload due to purchasing another farm, I wasn’t able to do as much heat detection and our pregnancy rate had dropped,” explained Graner. “Since putting in the CowManager system, our pregnancy rate has increased from 20 percent to 26 percent. We are now doing a better job catching cows to rebreed and have very few open cows at pregnancy checks. I don’t watch for cows in heat anymore. I trust CowManager to do that for me.”

Graner is pleased with the sick alerts provided by the Health module.“Heat detection was our main driver for purchasing the CowManager system but the sick alerts have become just as important for us,” said Graner. “We would have lost some cows without the CowManager sick alerts.”

Left to right: Toby Bracht, Prairie State/Select Sires service specialist, Debbie and Daniel Becker, co-owners, and Glen Sachtleben, Prairie State/Select Sires sales representative

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Left to right: Adam Graner, co-owner, and Brandon Thesing, Minnesota Select Sires Co-op, Inc. Select Reproductive Solutions® (SRS®) and CowManager system specialist

Four Beck Dairy, Bartelso, Ill. Daniel and his step-mother Debbie Becker are co-owners and manage the milking cows for Four Beck Dairy. They currently milk 700 cows and are in the midst of adding a new transition barn to allow for more herd growth. Four Beck Dairy installed their CowManager system with the Fertility and Health modules in January 2016. Prior to having CowManager activity monitoring, Four Beck Dairy used exclusively natural service bulls on their milking cows. Thanks to the help of their Prairie State/Select Sires Sales Representative, Glen Sachtleben, and their Prairie State/Select Sires Service Specialist, Toby Bracht, along with the breeding alerts from the CowManager system, they have now converted to A.I. for a majority of their cow reproductive program.

“The heat alerts with CowManager are spot-on," said Bracht, who now manages the reproductive program at the dairy.

“We are now making more pregnancies than the bulls did and making them sooner in lactation.”

“I think the CowManager system is great,” said Daniel. “We always wanted to start using A.I. here to reduce our days in milk and make more genetic progress, and CowManager and the team at Prairie State gave us the confidence to start our A.I. program. ” Daniel has also learned to rely on the CowManager health alerts for managing cow health. "In the early days of having the availability of the CowManager sick cow alerts, it took me awhile to figure out how to manage the health alerts,” he explained. “Right after installing the system, we had a cow that showed up on the suspicious sick alert list for several days and I didn’t see anything wrong with her but after a few days, we diagnosed her with a displaced abomasum (DA).

That was when I became a believer in the value of the health alerts from CowManager. Since then, we have had many sick cows that the CowManager has helped us find earlier than we would have found with only visual observation."

“I don’t spend as much time with fresh cows now and let the CowManager system help me find issues with specific cows,” said Daniel. “We always had some cows that had issues with Ketosis, now with CowManager, we are catching many of these before they end up with DAs. We definitely reduced our cow mortality here and we have been able to treat more cows without bringing in the veterinarian.”

Clockwise from upper left: Jenny Baerwolf, co-owner, Dr. Adam Ward, veterinarian, Scott Hecker, East Central/ Select Sires SRS specialist and CowManager system specialist and Rob Baerwolf, co-owner

Baerwolf Dairies LLC, Sun Prairie, Wis. Rob and Jenny Baerwolf milk 520 cows and have had the CowManager system in use since the summer of 2015. The Baerwolf family also has their own processing and dairy products store, Sassy Cow Creamery, just a few miles from the dairy. With this higher level of public transparency, the Baerwolfs are very consumer-focused.

"We hoped to use the technology provided by CowManager to improve our reproduction and heat detection," explained Rob. They also thought the system would be helpful in monitoring their cows for health issues and reduce the need to use hormone and antibiotic intervention.

“We have the technician, East Central/Select Sires’ Steve Otteson, that can use the breeding alerts from the system properly and does a great job for us," said Rob. Otteson manages the breeding program and has helped the Baerwolfs attain their goal of reducing cull rates and improving herd life. "Our annualized pregnancy rate has increased (it was 18-19 percent and is now about 25 percent) our A.I. submission rate has increased and we have had an increase in detected services with fewer cows going to the Ovsynch program,” said Rob. “I now use CowManager exclusively for determining what cows to breed and when to breed them at Baerwolf Dairy," said Otteson. “Since using CowManager for heat detection, there has been a significant increase in pregnancy rate and the percentage of pregnant cows presented to veterinarian check.”

“I love the CowManager system and wouldn’t want to go without it here,” said Dr. Ward, their veterinarian. “It is one more tool for managing cows. I use the system to track recovery and determine if the treatment we used worked for specific cows. My goal is to accomplish my objectives with the least intervention possible. Using the CowManager system at Baerwolf Dairy has made me a better veterinarian, as I have learned to eliminate some treatments and use less invasive practices. We I.V. fewer cows and trust treatments thanks to the constant feedback in health status that the CowManager system provides.”

Rob uses the health alerts to monitor the health status on cows beyond the fresh pens. “With CowManager, we have definitely saved cows in the milking pens,” commented Rob. “We have also benefited by detecting mastitis sooner with CowManager,” explained Jenny. Rob and Jenny are confident they would make the investment again. Last fall, Jenny posted a short video on the Sassy Cow Creamery Facebook page about how they use the CowManager system to continually monitor their cow’s behavior and stated that it was like a Fitbit for cows. The video post got more than 4,400 views.

Leadership Changes at East Central/ Select Sires

Al Deming, long-time general manager at East Central/Select Sires, will retire in July 2017 and Jerome Meyer was chosen as the new general manager by the East Central/Select Sires board of directors.

Deming has been with East Central/Select Sires for 41 years and 25 as general manager. He is currently president of the World Dairy Expo board of directors and Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association. He is a Wisconsin Hockey Hall of Fame board of director and is involved with U.S.A. Hockey.

Meyer has been employed with East Central/Select Sires since 2014 as a dairy program manager, overseeing employees and operations in the cooperative's western Wisconsin territory. A graduate of UW-Madison, he previously worked for Holstein Association USA in the classification department, in addition to being an integral member of their training team. Meyer has judged cattle shows throughout the United States and is on the planning committee for the International Post-Secondary Dairy Cattle Judging Contest at World Dairy Expo.

“The board of directors is pleased Long-time East Central/Select Sires General to have Jerome Meyer as the new Manager Al Deming (top) will retire in July and general manager of East Central/ Jerome Meyer (bottom) has been chosen to Select Sires,” commented Steve Abel, take over the role later this year.

East Central/Select Sires board of directors president. “We look forward to working with Jerome to keep our cooperative as the leading supplier of high-quality dairy and beef genetics in our market area.”

“I'm very pleased the board, after a very complete interview process, has chosen Jerome to lead East Central/Select Sires in the years ahead,” Deming added, “Jerome has earned the respect of the East Central employees while working as our western area dairy program manager. He is a very talented young man and will be an excellent general manager for the cooperative's members and employees. Jerome, along with the rest of our management team, will do a great job in guiding this organization in the years ahead.”

In early January, Meyer started to work closely with Deming to learn the structure, financials, and regular activities associated with the general manager position, providing the new general manager with solid footing from which to take off.

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Finding Value in Select Sires Service Although the Perkins family, Jim, Kirk, Rod and Todd Perkins, of Twin Creek Farms in Wolcottville, Ind. had been working exclusively with Select Sires for their genetic needs for nearly 30 years, it wasn’t until recently that they took advantage of the reproductive services available.

It was 2014 and Twin Creek Farms was one of the hosts for the National Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge; a contest where teams of college students evaluate all aspects of the dairy and present their findings to a panel of industry professionals and the farm owners.

“Although we always knew we had some reproductive performance issues, it wasn’t until we hosted the Dairy Challenge and every team beat us up on it that we knew we had to make a change,” explained Todd Perkins, one of the co-owners of Twin Creek Farms. “We talked to Tom Reinholt of Select Sires about using their breeding services. We thought

we would get caught up and then we would take it over from there.”

Brian Thornton, A.I. technician with NorthStar Cooperative that works in northeast Indiana, began breeding cows at Perkins Dairy in late April 2014 and has been a part of the operation since then. Other than his scheduled day off, he is at Perkins Twin Creek Farms every day; walking and chalking pens and looking for cows that are visibly in heat to breed.

“Since Brian started, we were able to decrease our semen use and shorten our calving interval,” said Todd. “We have the same high-quality ration as we did before and we have gained almost 10 pounds of milk

per cow. I definitely credit this to our reproductive improvements. Brian was paying his own way and we saw no sense in getting rid of him.”

Thornton’s involvement has freed up time for the co-owners to spend focusing on other areas of the farm.

“We always had the mindset to do everything ourselves,” explained Todd.

“We initially were reluctant to turn over the breeding to someone else, but once we realized this was making us money we put our personal pride aside. It’s not that we can’t breed cows, but before we never had enough time for proper heat detection. Brian is very talented and is singularly focused on reproduction and that shows.”

“When I was doing the breeding before, I was focusing on too many things,” said Kirk Perkins, a co-owner at Perkins Twin Creek Farms. "Now I can spend my time on feeding and doing more justice to delivering feed.”

Not only does Thornton breed cows and perform heat detection, he also

helps in other ways.

“I am also a second set of eyes on the farm,” said Thornton. “If I see a cow that is not feeling well or having problems calving I let someone know so that the issue can be looked into.”

Thornton also takes great pride in the reproductive improvements that have occurred at the farm since he began breeding cows. The calving interval has dropped from 14.1 months in April 2014 to 12.9 currently.

The pregnancy rate is up to 28 percent from 18 percent in early 2014.

“It’s important for me to look up conception rate, calving interval, days in milk at first breeding and days in milk across the herd and own that information,” said Thornton. “That’s my report card on a daily basis. It helps me find what needs tweaked and what needs to be improved.”

“Brian takes our reproductive success personally,” explained Kirk.

“He’s really invested in our operation.”

Thornton also relies on the Select

Rod, Todd, Jim and Kirk Perkins (left to right) own and operate Perkins Twin Creek Farm.

After hosting the National Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge in 2014 they turned to Select Sires to improve their reproductive efficiency.

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RePRO Analysis™ reports, which is a free service, to identify any areas that he is not performing well in. He takes pride in using less semen per service and knows that saves the Perkins family money.

“I think we are also having fewer calving problems because our cows are being bred sooner,” said Todd.

“We were having some heavy cows at calving time and issues with metabolic disorders, and I think we have done away with a lot of that by getting cows bred earlier in their lactation.”

Record number of heifers Because of the Perkins family’s renewed focus on fertility, the farm is getting more heifer calves out of the same number of cows which has led to more heifer facilities being built and the farm is able to sell some animals to other dairies. Their most recent building project was a calf barn with automatic feeders that was completed in mid-2015, which has improved their calf growth and put them all under one roof for easier management.

“We had a record amount of heifers in 2015 and 2016,” explained Todd.

Perkins Twin Creek Farms The Perkins Family, Wolcottville, Ind. Total Number of Dairy Cows: 470 Total Number of Replacements: 460 Breed of Dairy Cattle: Holsteins Rolling Herd Average: 29,800 pounds of milk Somatic Cell Count: 148,000 Acres farmed: 2,400 acres Service Sires: 7HO11351 SUPERSIRE, 7HO11752 BOB, 250HO13267 DUKE, 7HO11383 MORGAN, 7HO12418 SPARK, 7HO12139 PETY, 250HO1040 CALENDAR, 250HO1009 BREWMASTER, 7HO11314 MOGUL and 7HO11419 HEADLINER

“We also went back to using sexed semen because of our improved reproduction.”

About 75 percent of the heifers are being bred to gender SELECTed™ semen.

“Our first-calf heifers now calve with a smaller calf and go to work,” explained Todd. “We don’t have any pinched nerves or dead calves. These two-year-olds just take off.”

A family affair Jim Perkins began farming near

Brian Thornton (left) works with Kirk (center) and Todd (right) Perkins as their A.I. technician to make reproductive improvements.

their current location after leaving the Navy in the mid-1950s and started milking 50 cows. After receiving degrees from Purdue University, his sons Kirk, Rod and Todd all joined the operation in the 1980s. Their brother Eric also graduated from Purdue University and now manages the local Stroh Farm Supply store that was established several years ago by family members.

Today, Kirk handles most of the feeding, Rod focuses on growing quality crops on their 2,400 owned and rented acres and working with the heifers, and Todd manages the cows and herd health while Jim, at 80-years-old, still helps out. They have seven full-time and three part-time employees including Trent McGreagor who spends most of his time with the cows and heifers and Allen Myers who handles anything related to electric or maintenance, including building their double-eight parlor in 1997.

“Four members of the next generation are already talking about returning to the farm,” explained Todd.

“Two are attending Purdue University, one is in the Marines and one is in high school.”

Throughout the years they have expanded and built new facilities. In 2006 they expanded to their current size of 470 cows and built a freestall barn designed for cow comfort. In the six months after completing that project they saw their rolling herd average go from 21,000 pounds of milk to 26,000.

Using the best The Perkins family has been working with Select Sires and Brent Beeker, sales representative for NorthStar Cooperative, for more than 26 years.

“Brent knows our goals and what we are looking for,” said Todd. “He knows what bulls we need to use in our herd to improve.”

They appreciate the older 7HO5375 BW MARSHALL daughters in their herd and currently like their 7HO11169 PETRONE, 7HO9925 YANCE and 7HO11525 DONATELLO milking daughters.

“The PETRONE daughters here are peas in a pod,” said Thornton.

“The YANCE daughters have a great balance of dairyness and strength.”

The dairy utilizes Select Mating Service® (SMS®) and genetic consultant Jessica Jakubik to choose mating sires. They focus on using the best sires for TPI® and Net Merit with emphasis on good udders and feet and legs as well as components. A mix of genomic young sires and proven sires are used.

“SMS has saved us a lot of time and simplifies everything,” said Kirk. “If we had to sit down and figure out the best mating sire for each cow that is in heat it would take a lot of time.”

Current service sires include 7HO11351 SUPERSIRE, 7HO11752 BOB, 250HO13267 DUKE, 7HO11383 MORGAN, 7HO12418 SPARK, 7HO12139 PETY, 250HO1040 CALENDAR, 250HO1009 BREWMASTER, 7HO11314 MOGUL and 7HO11419 HEADLINER. “Obviously, Select Sires brings value to our operation through genetics,” explained Todd. “I love how our cows look; the udders and feet and legs on our cows are phenomenal, which are important to milk production. We’ve made significant improvements over the years by using Select Sires.”

“When I walk through the pens and see the quality of our cows as well as look at our milk production, I know Select Sires has made an impact in our herd,” said Kirk.

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December 2016 Sire Summary Highlights Select Sires is proud to once again offer the best lineup in the industry! Following the most recent sire summary Select Sires dominates several of the lists with exciting, diverse genetics.

PROVEN TPI

With 46 of the top 100 and 28 of the top 50 TPI® sires on Holstein Association USA’s Top TPI Bulls list, Select Sires has placed its largest number of sires on the list in history and re-gained the No. 1 spot with 7HO12165 MONTROSS. Additionally, Select Sires leads the industry with the most sires (35) on the Holstein Association USA Top 100 Daughter Proven Plus TPI list (75 daughters in 50 herds).

7HO12165 MONTROSS

7HO12105 REFLECTOR

Zahbulls Montross Creep-ET (VG-86) Larry Lexvold, Goodhue, Minn.

Ocd Reflector 3017-ET (VG-85) David Dean King, Waddington, N.Y.

NET MERIT Of the top 25 proven sires for Net Merit (NM$), 14 are Select sires as well as 22 of the top 50 and 35 of the top 100.

Top Active A.I. Sires for NM$ 2. 7HO11351 SUPERSIRE 3. 7HO12165 MONTROSS 5. 7HO11708 ROOKIE 7T. 7HO11833 RENNIE 9. 7HO11839 MONOCEROTIS 11. 7HO11621 MAYFLOWER 12. 7HO12195 BUTLER 14. 7HO11985 TETRIS 15. 7HO11946 MIDNIGHT 16. 7HO11525 DONATELLO 19. 7HO11383 MORGAN 21. 7HO11519 RACKET 24. 7HO11752 BOB 25. 7HO11915 MULTIPLY 10

Holstein Association USA's Top TPI Bulls List 1. 7HO12165 MONTROSS 2. 7HO11351 SUPERSIRE 4. 7HO11621 MAYFLOWER 5. 7HO11752 BOB 6. 7HO11708 ROOKIE 7. 7HO11383 MORGAN 8T 7HO12105 REFLECTOR 10. 7HO12198 KINGBOY 13. 7HO11314 MOGUL 14. 7HO12131 MCGIRT 15T. 7HO11525 DONATELLO 15T. 7HO11946 MIDNIGHT 18. 7HO11585 STERLING 19. 7HO12139 PETY 20. 7HO11419 HEADLINER

TYPE

7HO11621 MAYFLOWER

Select Sires is home to four sires over +3.00 PTAT and several top-10 Feet and Leg Composite (FLC) and Udder Composite (UDC) sires.

7HO12198 KINGBOY

7HO12195 BUTLER 7HO12042 CORVETTE

Top to bottom: SCD-JC Mayflower Debra Sue (VG-85), Silver Creek Dairy LLC, Forest, Ohio; L-L-M-Dairy Butler Dusty-ET (VG-85), L-L-M Dairy, Ringle, Wis.

Top to bottom: Ladys-Manor Kgirl Oh-ET, Ladys-Manor LLC, Monkton, Md.; Dryhouse-M Corvette Layla (VG-86-VG-MS), nominated junior All-American yearling in milk, Natalie Paige Yoder, Belleville, Pa.

Top Active A.I. Sires for Type 1. 7HO11596 DEFIANT 2. 7HO10506 G W ATWOOD 6. 7HO11477 MCCUTCHEN 9. 7HO12198 KINGBOY Top Active A.I. Sires for FLC 5. 7HO12042 CORVETTE 6. 7HO10506 G W ATWOOD 8. 7HO10999 BRADNICK 9 7HO11477 MCCUTCHEN 10. 7HO11279 MOONBOY Top Active A.I. Sires for UDC 3. 7HO11899 FURIOUS 7. 7HO12139 PETY 9. 7HO11477 MCCUTCHEN 10. 7HO11926 DEFENDER

JERSEY LINEUP 7JE1274 AXIS

Crosswind Axis 5795 {6}-ET Crosswind Jerseys, Elkton, S.D.

7JE1294 BARNABAS

Kash-In Barnabas 45001-ET (VG-89%) Rancho Teresita Dairy, Tulare, Calif.

7JE1274 AXIS made huge improvements while adding 68 new daughters in 55 herds with the December sire summary. He is now the No. 3 active A.I. sire for JPI™ (+240), Milk (+1,804) and Protein (+59) and No. 5 for PL (+6.9) and NM$ (+576) as well as ranking in the top-10 for Type (+1.8). 7JE1149 DIMENSION (+198), 7JE1184 NEWS (+193) and 7JE1331 VARICK (+193) join AXIS in the breed’s top-15 for JPI. 7JE1219 OLIVER-P (+2.1), 7JE1294 BARNABAS (+2.1), 7JE1169 TOPEKA (+1.9), 7JE1038 VALENTINO (+1.8), 7JE1163 IRWIN (+1.8) and AXIS (+1.8) are among the top 15 active A.I. sires for Type.

Top Active A.I. Sires for SCR 3. 7JE1242 NITRO 4. 7JE1294 BARNABAS 7T. 7JE1332 RENO

Top Genomic Young Sires for SCR 1. 7JE1503 RONALDINHO {3} 2. 7JE1354 TEXAS 3. 7JE1505 POGBA {4}

HIGH CANADIAN COMPONENTS LEADERS Our high-components breeds sires also excel at total performance, type, fitness and fertility. The following sires lead the industry:

7AY84 BURDETTE No. 1 active Ayrshire for Type and No. 2 for Sire Conception Rate

7BS826 AUGUST No. 1 active Brown Swiss for Somatic Cell Score

7AY90 LOCHINVAR No. 1 active Ayrshire for SCR, No. 2 for Type and No. 3 for Milk

7BS866 DAMIAN No. 1 active Brown Swiss for Percent Protein

7AY93 BERKELY No. 1 active Ayrshire for Heifer Conception Rate

7BS854 BUSH No. 1 active Brown Swiss for Udder Composite

250HO1009 BREWMASTER has now held the top GLPI spot for five sire summaries at +3230 and is also the top sire for Pro$ (+2446).

7HO11314 MOGUL (+3189), 250HO1043 AIKMAN (+3149) and new addition 250HO1066 BIG KAHUNA (+3122) 250HO1066 BIG KAHUNA join BREWMASTER in the top-five for LPI. MOGUL (+2353) and BIG KAHUNA (+2321) rank No. 2 and No. 3 behind BREWMASTER for Pro$. TOPEKA (+1853) ranks in the top 10 for LPI. For Pro$, IRWIN is the No. 5 sire at +1473 while VALENTINO (+1392) and TOPEKA (+1286) are top-10 Jersey OConnors Big K Boom (VG-85-VG-MS) sires.

OConnors Land & Cattle Co, Ajax, Ontario

GENOMIC YOUNG SIRES

Select Sires’ Super Sampler™ and GenerVations young sire lineups are home to four of the top 10 GTPI® active A.I. young sires: 7HO13250 JEDI (+2891), 7HO12600 MODESTY (+2872), 250HO13267 DUKE (+2820) and new release 507HO12899 SLAMDUNK (+2815). There are 26 Super Samplers and GenerVations young sires that transmit more than 150 pounds of Combined Fat and Protein (CFP) and 12 genomic young sires at Select Sires that exceed +1,000 Dairy Wellness Profit Index™ (DWP$™). Select’s Super Sampler lineup contains 19 sires that are +3.0 for SCR or higher including the top three active A.I. young sires: 7HO12667 BORIS-RED (+5.2), 7HO12782 BONJOUR (+5.0) and 7HO13276 BOWEN (+4.6).

7HO13250 JEDI

Top Active Genomic Young Sires for NM$ 2. 7HO12600 MODESTY 4. 507HO12788 FRAZZLED 5. 7HO13250 JEDI 9. 507HO12897 SAMURI 18T. 7HO12821 EVEREST 20. 250HO13267 DUKE 21. 507HO12899 SLAMDUNK 22T. 7HO12811 LOPEZ

Top Genomic Young Sires for DWP$ 2. 507HO12788 FRAZZLED 7. 7HO12600 MODESTY 8T. 507HO12899 SLAMDUNK 13. 7HO12854 MANTON 14. 7HO12556 PAGEONE 17. 7HO12803 MR MAX 18. 7HO12797 LEGENDARY 21T. 507HO12898 SUPERSPRING

Top Active Genomic Young Sires for Type 1. 250HO12589 JACOBY 2T. 7HO12921 WILSON 10. 7HO12353 BEEMER 15. 7HO12593 UNION

JEDI photo by Erbsen.

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VALENTINO: Setting the Record Customer-satisfaction sire 7JE1038 VALENTINO recently passed 7JE590 ACTION to become the No. 1 Jersey sire for lifetime sales at Select Sires. Through the end of December, VALENTINO has sold 380,068 units of semen and has had a far-reaching impact on the industry.

VALENTINO was bred by David Allen of Reedsburg, Wis. and is a 7JE738 LOUIE son of world-famous D&E Paramount Violet (E-90%).

Violet was purchased by Allen in 2006 when he was looking for a few cows to develop and add to his herd. In January 2010, she made a splash when five of her sons were among the top-10 GJPI™ young sires with VALENTINO leading the list.

After being a popular member of the Super Sampler™ lineup, VALENTINO graduated into the active lineup in December 2012 as the No. 5 GJPI and No. 2 Type sire.

“It was gratifying as a breeder to hear from other Jersey breeders as they were calving in VALENTINO daughters that they loved them,” says Allen. “We take a lot of pride in VALENTINO and were very fortunate to have a cow like Violet that had so many outstanding sons. Although we were not able to

use a lot of VALENTINO, we really like the daughters we do have. He does so many things right.”

Today, VALENTINO is known as a customer-satisfaction sire around the world and maintains his position in the top-10 for Type at +1.8. He is also among the leading sires for Livability, ranking ninth at +3.2. He is a top-25 LPI sire in Canada at +1603 and is the No. 8 Pro$ sire at +1392. Following the December sire summary, he now has more than 10,000 daughters in nearly 2,000 herds contributing to his evaluation.

“Easily it is his strength of udder attachments and udder position complemented by his true dairy strength and near ideal rumps that make his daughters stand out,” explains Tim Baumgartner, Jersey genetics and marketing specialist at Select Sires Inc. “They are longlived cows that are balanced and have a will to milk.”

A living legacy “The impact of VALENTINO is still being unveiled,” says Baumgartner. “He has truly been one of the most consistent transmitting Jersey bulls this decade. His lengthy career in active A.I. is testament alone to his acceptance worldwide.”

The demand for his genetics has been evident throughout his career.

“VALENTINO is the first Jersey bull that has never moved from a collection stall during his life at Select Sires,” said Blaine Crosser, Select Sires vice president of dairy sire product line. “The strong demand for this genetic giant made semen collection necessary every week of his career.”

The next generation His influence is apparent in the current Select Sires lineup with three proven sons: Showcase Selections™ sire 7JE1163 IRWIN, Polled son 7JE1219 OLIVER-P and the new No. 3 GJPI proven sire 7JE1274 AXIS. He has numerous grandsons and great-grandsons among the proven and Super Sampler lineups.

“On the daughter side, I will always be a fan of Jars Of Clay Valentino Bridget (E-91%),

Highview Valentino Mistle Toe (E90%) and Mainstream Valentino Shine (VG-86%),” explained Baumgartner. “I mention these three cows as I have seen them on numerous occasions and each time they are found standing at the feed bunk, focused on the task at hand! While I never saw Violet herself, Jeff Ziegler (Select Sires Inc. genomic program manager), often tells of his first time seeing that cow – standing at a feed bunk consuming large quantities of feed.”

It’s no surprise those three cows are a few of Tim’s favorites.

Bridget is the dam of new proven release 7JE1294 BARNABAS, Mistle Toe received the 2015 President’s Trophy and Hilmar Cheese Yield Trophy from the American Jersey Cattle Association and Shine is the dam of 7JE1393 SHIPLEY. “The next generation and beyond are making waves,” says Baumgartner. “I truly believe that we will be thankful to have VALENTINO blood running through the veins of future generations. His contributions to the breed will be admired for a long time.”

Left: VALENTINO daughter, Mainstream Valentino Shine (VG-86%) is the dam of 7JE1393 SHIPLEY. Below: Jars Of Clay Valentino Bridget (E-91%), sired by VALENTINO, is the dam of new proven release 7JE1294 BARNABAS.

Above: VALENTINO recently passed ACTION to become the top-selling Jersey sire of all time at Select Sires.

Right: Highview Valentino Mistle Toe (E-90%) is a VALENTINO daughter and received the 2015 President’s Trophy and Hilmar Cheese Yield Trophy from the American Jersey Cattle Association.

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Genetics Work

by Jerome Meyer, East Central/Select Sires sales manager and genetic consultant Genetics play a key role in creating profitable, fertile and healthy cows. However, it can be difficult to show just how vital genetics are on the overall profitability of a dairy. With accurate records and on-farm software, we can investigate how genetics help a dairy make progress and become more profitable.

Genetics impact milk production Milk production is one of the most heritable traits. Many factors influence milk production, but genetics play a key role in achieving the highest milk production. We recently analyzed a 2,000-cow dairy in southern Wisconsin to see how they capture the value of elite genetics.

We analyzed all first lactation animals within the herd to determine their parent average for milk production. Then we were able to compare, based on parent average, how these cows were actually performing. The milk analysis table to the right shows the DairyComp 305 analysis demonstrating how animals on this dairy performed as compared to their parent average.

Based solely on parent averages, we would expect the top 25 percent of first lactation animals in this herd to produce about 949 pounds more milk than the bottom 25 percent of first lactation animals. When we compare actual production levels though, we find that this dairy actually sees a 4,110 pound difference in production between their top and bottom animals! This is an extremely well-managed dairy that is allowing the genetics to be expressed to the fullest.

Genetics impact fertility Great strides are being made to improve fertility and pregnancy rates

across the industry. New protocols, improved cow comfort and excellent nutrition have all contributed to herds boosting their reproductive performance.

Genetics are often overlooked as one of the key ingredients to achieving maximum pregnancy rates on a dairy because of their low heritability. Despite the heritability, we know now that traits like Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) matter.

In the same 2,000-cow dairy we determined how much of an impact parent average for DPR had on the dairy’s reproductive performance.

The difference in parent average DPR between the top and bottom 25 percent of the first lactation animals is 2.6 points. Since every point of DPR works out to four fewer days open, that means the top 25 percent of cows should conceive more than 10 days sooner than the bottom quartile.

DairyComp 305 data shows us this herd is realizing an 11-point difference in pregnancy rate between their top and bottom 25 percent. This is the equivalent of 44 fewer days open—more than two whole heat cycles!

These first lactation animals are all housed in the same environment, fed the same ration and go through the same synchronization protocols.

The only difference is their genetic ability to get pregnant.

Genetics impact health work! When you select for PTA Milk, Every dairy producer wants healthy you will get more production. When cows that produce well, breed back you select for DPR, you will realize efficiently and require minimal labor a higher pregnancy rate. If healthy to handle. Sick cows cost money! cows are your goal, then selection for The cost associated with cows that PL will help you create a trouble-free require treatment goes beyond the herd. medications to include more labor Achieve maximum profitability costs and less production in that through genetics when you combine lactation. selection for these traits, and the Recent discussions have focused traits that match your goals. With on marketing gimmicks to convince the industry’s best sire lineup, farmers that daughters of certain Select Sires provides you with the bulls will be more immune to opportunity to maximize your sire various diseases or transition more selections to maximize future profit efficiently. Yet if healthy cows are the for your operation. Talk to your Select goal, the answer has been staring Sires representative to create your us in the face the whole time. For breeding plan to incorporate traits improved health and longevity of your that are important for the future herd, select for Productive Life (PL) success of your dairy and to ensure as part of your breeding program! that your genetic goals are met The PL analysis table on the right through sire selection. takes the same 2,000Milk Analysis cow dairy we’ve used to analyze production and Quartile Parent Avg. Number 305ME fertility and breaks the for Milk of Cows Prod. whole herd down based Bottom 25% -84 149 28,110 on parent average for PL. You can see that 3rd 25% +279 149 29,605 the top 25 percent of 2nd 25% +555 147 30,107 animals have fewer +865 150 32,220 abortions, less mastitis Top 25% and fewer animals Daughter Pregnancy Rate Analysis that died or were sold.

Quartile Parent Avg. Number 21-day for DPR of Cows Preg. Rate Genetics work Bottom 25% -0.4 135 24% These examples 3rd 25% +0.5 141 27% from a real herd prove that genetics 2nd 25% +1.1 156 31%

Top 25%

+2.2

163

35%

Productive Life Analysis First Lactation

Fresh Sold Died Aborted Mastitis

Low PL cows (bottom 25%) Average PL=-.2

528

221

42

68

63

High PL cows (top 25%) Average PL=+3.2

542

116

17

42

31

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Getting to Know Select Sires' Research Team The Select Sires board of directors, comprised of customer-owners from across the country, has always encouraged Select Sires to develop, run and analyze research projects that benefit customer-owners. The research team at Select Sires is excited to carry out important research on a variety of topics.

The Select Sires research team consists of five members: Mel DeJarnette, vice president of research and quality control; Dr. Matt Utt, director of research; Dr. Kristina McDonald, research associate and microbiologist; Lucas Helser, research assistant and the newest member Dr. Bo Harstine, research and quality assurance associate. This dedicated, talented group of researchers spend their days developing and running research trials as well as supporting Select Sires' semen processing team and field staff.

“Some days I spend time reading literature and designing research projects,” says McDonald. “Other days I am in the lab putting plans into action or I may be analyzing data and formulating results.”

Although their backgrounds and research projects are varied, the team agrees on one thing, working on behalf of customer-owners is very important.

“I know that the work we perform is not done for a boss inside the building but rather done on behalf of dairy and beef producers worldwide,” explains DeJarnette. “I know that the little things we do every day make a difference in the profitability of their operations and in their livelihoods.”

“I enjoy learning from my incredibly knowledgeable coworkers,” says Harstine. “I also enjoy knowing that what I do helps farmers and food production and that I work for a progressive company that continually strives to be better in all aspects of what they do.”

Learn more about our outstanding and diverse research team to the right.

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Name: Mel DeJarnette Job Title: Vice president of research and quality control DeJarnette's family raised polled Herefords and tobacco and DeJarnette went on to attend Virginia Tech. After taking some time off from college, he returned to take his dreaded reproductive physiology class and ended up loving the subject and obtaining a master's degree. He joined Select Sires in 1990 and now oversees the research and semen processing staff. Although he has certain standard operations that must be performed each day, he spends his time troubleshooting and supporting the semen production, research and field staff.

Name: Kristina McDonald, Ph.D. Job Title: Research associate and microbiologist McDonald grew up on her family's dairy farm in Radnor, Ohio and received degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University and The Ohio State University. She recently earned her Ph.D. in comparative and veterinary medicine from Ohio State. She became interested in joining Select Sires after a middle school field trip and sent in her resume after graduating from college. McDonald has been with Select Sires since October 2007. She serves as a resource to the quality assurance and control personnel and works closely with other staff scientists to design and implement research trials.

Name: Matt Utt, Ph.D. Job Title: Director of research Utt grew up without an agricultural background, but received bachelor's and master's degrees in animal and poultry sciences from Virginia Tech. In 2010, he went back to school to earn his doctorate degree and study male physiology through a joint associateship program between The Ohio State University and Select Sires. He enjoys the level of innovation and passion at Select Sires and spends most of his time investigating collaborative research opportunities with universities and industry groups in addition to crunching numbers and working with Select Reproductive Solutions® (SRS®) staff to develop data-driven solutions and analytical tools for customers.

Name: Bo Harstine, Ph.D. Job Title: Research and quality assurance associate The newest member of the team, Harstine grew up near Sugarcreek, Ohio on his family's registered Holstein and Ayrshire farm. Harstine first worked as a research intern at Select Sires in 2010 and afterwards signed on to the C.E. Marshall Graduate Associateship Program, a joint venture between Ohio State University and Select Sires. Harstine has a bachelor's degree from Washington & Jefferson College and master's and doctorate degrees from The Ohio State University in animal science. On a typical day, he interacts with a variety of employees on his main project—optimizing semen collection from genetically superior young sires.

Name: Lucas Helser Job Title: Quality control/quality assurance coordinator Helser grew up on a small diversified grain, dairy and hog operation and while helping his uncle A.I. cows, developed an interest in learning more about how semen was produced. After receiving his bachelor's degree from Capital University and his master's degree from The Ohio State University, he joined Select Sires in 2007 as a weekend processing supervisor and outsource production coordinator. Now a member of the research team, he spends a majority of his time working with the quality control team and performing semen quality tests and re-tests as well as working on research projects.

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To enhance the productivity and profitability of dairy and beef producers, Select Sires is committed to be the premier provider of highly fertile, superior genetics accompanied by effective reproductive- and herdmanagement products and services.

For more information, visit www.selectsires.com or call (614) 873-4683.

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Super Sampler, gender SELECTed, Select RePRO Analysis and Superior Settler are trademarks of Select Sires Inc. Dairy Wellness Profit Index and DWP$ are trademarks of Zoetis Inc., its affiliates and/or its licensors. All product claims, representations and warranties, expressed or implied are made only by the product manufacturers and not by Select Sires Inc. ® Select Mating Service, SMS, Select Reproductive Solutions, SRS and FeedPRO are registered trademarks of Select Sires Inc. CowManager is a registered trademark of Agis Automatisering.

CLARIFIDE is a registered trademark of Zoetis Inc., its affiliates and/or its licensors. gender SELECTed™ semen processed by Sexing Technologies for Select Sires shall be used only for the single insemination of one female bovine during natural ovulation with the intent to produce single offspring unless specifically approved on an individual customer basis by Sexing Technologies in writing. This semen is produced using the proprietary technology of XY LLC and Inguran LLC, as partially represented by U.S. Patents: 6372422, 7094527, 7208265, 7371517, 6357307, 7723116, 7758811and 7799569. Patents pending in US and foreign markets. XY® is a trademark of XY LLC. All gender SELECTed semen is processed using SexedULTRA™ technology.

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