WINTER 2019
Selections IN THIS ISSUE
Living Up to His Name
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Genetic Audit: From Start to Profit
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Navigating the Dairy Sire Search
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Find my CowTM Now Available
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YOUR SUCCESS
Our Passion.
SUCCESS WITH SELECT SIRES David C. Thorbahn, president and C.E.O. America’s Lone Remaining Breeding Cooperative Select Sires is now the only A.I. cooperative-formed by farmers, owned by farmers and led by farmers. It is this cooperative spirit that provides the focus and guidance to establish Select Sires as North America’s leader in genetic quality, unmatched fertility and consistent, high-quality service, which provides a sustainable foundation for your herd’s future. Sustainability: Building your herd’s foundation for the future How does building sustainability lead to success for you, our customer-owners? Webster defines sustainability as: u the ability to survive, be sustained, be supported, or confirmed, u the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance. Survival in today’s economy is on everyone’s mind. The future success of your operation requires highly efficient production of the best quality milk or beef at the lowest cost. Sustainability in our terms The analytical results of genetic audits consistently show that the foundation for efficient, high production is elite genetics. It is
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impossible to be an industry-leading operation with average genetics. In the current economy, good enough does not guarantee survival. In your herd, sustainablility is also linked to pregnancy rates. Sire fertility, programs to reduce inbreeding, and herd management services can optimize cash flow. Your cooperative’s fertility advantage is confirmed by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), Agri-Tech Analytics and testimonials from dairies across the nation. In addition to high-fertility standards, no company can match the technology and service offered by Select Mating Service® (SMS®) and StrataGEN® to slow inbreeding. TM Finally, service programs like ProfitMAX and Select Reproductive Solutions® (SRS®) combine to provide expertise and strategies to advance genetics rapidly, manage inventory of replacements, identify top cows and allow you to develop enterprises to make the most profit from excess animals. To enhance your operation and plan for a sustainable future, precision dairy management tools like FeedPRO®, sexed semen and CowManager® are delivered through the industry’s largest, most professionally trained service force. For more information about Select Sires’ genetics, programs and services, please contact your local Select Sires representative. u
S-S-I Marty 10731 11645-ET (VG-86) Photo by Herges
Pen-Col MARTY-ET (VG-88) SUPERSIRE x (EX-90-EX-MS) BOOKEM
+2595GTPI® +2,310M +172CFP 7.0%CE
This new graduate is siring pure performance. MARTY offers an elite package—huge milk production and components coupled with attractive calving ease and sire fertility. MARTY daughters are mastering success from coast to coast. Call your Select Sires representative today to add MARTY to your program.
LIVING UP TO HIS NAME
October 2018 was a monumental month for 7HO11351 Seagull-Bay SUPERSIRE (EX-90-GM). In less than 2,500 days, and at the age of seven years and 10 months, SUPERSIRE became the eleventh Select Sires bull to sell one million units of semen. Joining him in this coveted club are previous millionaire sires 7HO11314 MOGUL, 7HO9222 SHOT, 7HO8081 PLANET, 7HO8165 MILLION, 7HO7466 MOSCOW, 7HO6417 O MAN, 7HO5708 BLITZ, 7HO4213 INTEGRITY, 7HO3707 MATHIE*CV and 7HO1236 MANDINGO. Bred by Seagull-Bay Holsteins in American Falls, Idaho, SUPERSIRE hails from a beautiful maternal line as a direct descendent of the famed Ammon-Peachey Shauna-ET (EX-92-EX-MS-GMD-DOM).
“SUPERSIRE’s dam, Shauna, was the best PLANET daughter I have ever seen. The Holstein breed is very fortunate that she was bred to 7HO10524 ROBUST and produced such an influential sire in SUPERSIRE,” says Mark Kerndt, sire analyst. 4 u
A standout from the start TM After historical popularity as a Super Sampler , SUPERSIRE made his debut to the daughter-proven lineup as the breed’s No. 1 GTPI® sire in April of 2015. This was the start of his reign as the breed-leader for four consecutive genetic evaluations. The following four evaluations, he continued to show his genetic strength, maintaining top-10 status and siring pure customer satisfaction from coast-to-coast and around the globe. At the time of his graduation to daughter-proven status, his strengths extended beyond GTPI rankings. He also ranked No. 1 on Select Sires’ listings for Milk, Fat, Protein and Net Merit Dollars. “At the 2015 Select Sires National Sales Conference bull parade, SUPERSIRE entered the ring and I said ‘this bull sires money, he should have a dollar sign branded on his hip.’ And today, I am even more confident in his value,” says Kerndt. A continuing impact from the maternal line Today, SUPERSIRE has more than 33,000 daughters in his evaluation and he continues to be competitive with even the youngest generation of
A MILLIONAIRE’S LEGACY
S-S-I Suprsire Miri 8679-ET (EX-90-EX-MS-GMD-DOM) De Novo Genetics LLC, New Albin, IA
bulls for traits like Milk, Fat and Protein. “The beautiful thing about SUPERSIRE daughters is they outproduce the herd while doing it in a healthy fashion. He has been able to transmit those same qualities to several sons,” says Rick VerBeek, sire analyst. Perhaps one of the most influential daughters of SUPERSIRE, and bull mother to several successful sons at Select Sires, is S-S-I Suprsire Miri 8679-ET (EX-90-EX-MSGMD-DOM). Miri’s sons include 7HO13250 JEDI, 7HO13251 JETT, 7HO13373 FLAGSHIP and Polled-leader 7HO13281 MILLER-P. Additional elite sires with SUPERSIRE influence in the maternal line include recent proven graduate 7HO12600 MODESTY and genomic young sires 507HO14451 BIG AL (+2866 GTPI) and 507HO14229 TAHITI (+2848 GTPI). Paternal presence SUPERSIRE’s use as a sire father has
7HO12600 MODESTY MGS: SUPERSIRE +2598 GTPI +864 Milk +821 NM$
Bryhill SS Sateen P (VG-88-EX-MS) 7HO13250 JEDI MGDPGS: of 507HO14451 BIG AL SUPERSIRE Seagull Bay Dairy, Inc., American Falls, ID
+2660 GTPI +2,438 Milk +745 NM$
“SUPERSIRE should be regarded as one of the all-time great profit generators of his generation!” says VerBeek. yielded sons of extreme ranking in GTPI, Milk and Net Merit, as well as profitable health and fitness traits. Today’s breed-leading SUPERSIRE sons include 7HO11985 TETRIS, 7HO12449 MARTY 14HO7489 HOMER and 14HO7418 BELAIR, but the best is yet to come. His influence through his grandson, 7HO12788 FRAZZLED, is evident as this genomic young bull continues to dominate rankings. SUPERSIRE and his progeny are designed for success: tailor-made for modern dairies, efficient and most importantly-profitable. His legacy will surely have a major impact on the Holstein breed for generations to come. u
7HO13250 JEDI MGS: SUPERSIRE +2660 GTPI +2,438 Milk +745 NM$
De-Su Supersire 3349-ET (VG-86-DOM) MGD of 507HO14229 TAHITI De Novo Genetics LLC, New Albin, IA
SUPERSIRE’s genetic strength transmits to a wealth of daughterproven and genomic young sires: 7HO11985 TETRIS SUPERSIRE x Domain x PLANET +2601 GTPI +2,249 Milk +845 NM$ 7HO12449 MARTY SUPERSIRE x BOOKEM x Man-O-Man +2574 GTPI +2,230 Milk +762 NM$ 14HO7489 HOMER SUPERSIRE x Man-O-Man x Shottle +2576 GTPI +2,475 Milk +818 NM$ 14HO7418 BELAIR SUPERSIRE x BOOKEM x DEX +2612 GTPI 1,266 Milk +786 NM$
7HO12788 FRAZZLED PGS: SUPERSIRE +2770 GTPI +2,315 Milk +979 NM$
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GENETIC AUDIT: FROM START TO PROFIT Select Sires’ ProfitMAX™ program helps customers achieve long-term profitability from future herd replacements and improve short-term cash flow by increasing the value of extra calves to be sold to the beef market. The genetic audit is the capstone of the program and uses the Optimal Genetic Pathways calculator to project profitable solutions. Learn more about the auditing process and the on-farm program’s impact from All West/Select Sires Dairy and Genetic Program Specialists, Amber LaSalle and Greg Collins. Who benefits from a genetic audit? Amber LaSalle: Whether you consider your herd genetically progressive, or you’ve made genetic improvement a goal, a genetic audit will undoubtedly yield benefits for your dairy. For some of the industry’s most progressive herds, the process can highlight correlations between current challenges and traits that don’t receive attention in the genetic selection program. Through the process, you can also gain a better understanding of herd rank compared to herds in the same environment and compared to the national Holstein averages. (Figure 1) If you’ve identified genetics as an area of improvement, the process can be truly eye-opening and will provide evidence that genetics make a huge difference in the sustainability of your herd. FIGURE 1: Index/Trait Holstein Breed Average
2015
2016
2017
2018
TPI
+1942
+2009
+2073
+2137
NM$
+226
+268
+310
+353
Milk
+459
+543
+628
+712
Productive Life
+1.7
+2.1
+2.4
+2.7
Daughter Pregnancy Rate
+0.7
+0.8
+1.0
+1.1
Somatic Cell Score
3.02
3.00
2.99
2.97
Combined Fat and Protein
+38
+45
+52
+59
Describe the timeline to complete the audit. What is the time commitment for a producer? Greg Collins: The time investment of the dairy producer is minimal. Dairies begin by providing their Select Sires professional with a herd data backup and a brief interview to determine the most important genetic traits specific to the dairy. Then we go to work! We sift through the data, analyze the information and prepare a complete presentation. The final meeting to present the information takes less than an hour, depending on the discussion and questions. We also recommend a minimum of annual reviews for herd auditing. Amber LaSalle: Once the presentation is complete, we select traits to continue emphasizing and strengthening. Next, we use the Optimal Genetic Pathways calculator to rank the individual animals. An index
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or a combination of traits and production numbers can also be used to rank the individuals. Then we devise a strategy for use of sexed semen, conventional semen and beef semen. How does the Optimal Genetic Pathways calculator fit into the auditing process? Greg Collins: The Optimal Genetic Pathways calculator takes the eligible breeding population and allows the producer to strategically utilize the best genetics. It determines the most profitable combinations of semen usage, including sex-sorted, conventional and/or embryos, while making the number of females needed to maintain the desired cow numbers. Additionally, the calculator shows the producer where to utilize beef bulls to take advantage of the premiums offered for dairy x beef calves. This innovative tool brings together two very important segments for a producer. Utilizing a dairy’s detailed reproduction numbers and genetic data, it creates the desired number of females with the desired genetic emphasis. An example of the Optimal Genetic Pathways product strategy usage can be seen in Figure 2. FIGURE 2: Genetic Strategy %
1st Service
2nd Service
3rd Service
1st Lact Top
16%
S1
S1
B
B
B
1st Lact Lower
18%
S1
S1
B
B
B
Milking Herd Groups
4th 5+ Service Services
2+ Lact Top
31%
C
C
B
B
B
Beef
35%
B
B
B
B
B
100%
%
1st Service
2nd Service
3rd Service
Top
85%
S
S
S
B
B
Lower
7%
S
S
S
B
B
Beef
8%
B
B
B
B
B
Heifer Groups
4th 5+ Service Services
100% Product Type Codes % of the Breedings
1st Lactation 1st Lactation ConvenSexed Conventional Sexed tional
Beef
Embryo
S1
C1
S
C
B
E
17%
0%
22%
14%
47%
0%
RATION
From start to finish, can you illustrate the profit potential of the FIGURE 3: genetic auditing process? Productive Life Fresh HOSP Abort DNB Sold Died Lame MAST RP Amber LaSalle: The impact of profitability is dependent on the 2.2 to 4.2 1175 72 73 73 299 37 187 300 68 desired traits of improvement. When one analyzes it merely based on monetary value, it is milk (difference between top and bottom -2.5 to 0.5 1167 154 97 153 546 79 470 574 55 quartile and the current price per hundredweight) and Net Merit (monetary values based on fat and protein percentages and current FIGURE 4: Ratio of Freshening Versus Mastitis Cases by Log Score price for that state or region); however, there have been many herds that have felt the most financial impact with Productive Life. In regards to the correlations in more than 40 herds, Productive Life and Somatic Cell Score have shown impressive consistency of health event data from herd to herd. In Figure 3, you can observe the differences between top and bottom quartile cows for Productive Life. This information represents cows in their second lactation or more. In summary, the results translate to: u 54 percent reduction in hospital entries u 25 percent reduction in abortions u 53 percent reduction in do not breeds To take advantage of genetics, the more optimal the environment u 46 percent reduction in cows sold (heat abatement, proper pen and bed maintenance, shot compliance, u 54 percent reduction in death loss etc.), the less reliant the cow’s performance will be on environment, and u 61 percent reduction in lameness the more it will hinge upon the factor of genetics. Genomic data versus parent average information tends to maintain a similar average but u 48 percent reduction in mastitis definitely widens the range of a given cohort. Management practices can u 20 percent reduction in retained placentas be changed within days or months, but it takes a couple years to see the When considering monetary values for abortions, lameness, mastitis effects of genetics. Genetic audits prove that genetics work; however, and retained placentas, there was a difference of $107, 239 between the it is a long term investment and must be maintained in order to see top and bottom quartile cows. results. u In Figure 4, you’ll note similar correlations between mastitis events and Somatic Cell Scores from a genetic audit. Mastitis cases were most For more information about ProfitMAX, visit www.selectsires.com or extreme at the 3.0 and 3.1 log score, with 481 and 284 cases reported. contact your local Select Sires representative.
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NAVIGATING THE DAIRY SIRE SEARCH
As a senior business analyst, Brian Coyne collaborates with Select Sires’ information systems department to implement new technology and maximize the profitability of customer-owners. Previously a genetic consultant with East Central/Select Sires, Coyne’s foundation in the dairy genetics industry provides valuable insight in developing and maintaining Select Sires’ online dairy sire search feature. “Navigating the Dairy Sire Search” is the first in a three-part series to provide guidance in using Select Sires’ bull search. Look for future segments on more advanced tools like ancestry filtering and creating custom indexes in the Fall and Summer 2019 editions of Selections.
Getting Started For best results and successful navigability, users should launch the sire search using Google Chrome as their web browser. The Dairy Sire Search (DSS) can be accessed at www.selectsires.com and is located in the lower left corner of the website’s home page. If you’re accessing the search for the first time, you will receive a “Tour DSS” pop-up and have the opportunity to watch various video clips to guide you through the search options. In this tutorial, we will review four valuable capabilities of the Dairy Sire Search: 1. Breed, Brand, Product Status & Type 2. Special Designations 3. High Interest 4. Export Bull Data General Tips As you make selections, the preview of bulls populated in the lower portion of the screen display will change. Note that the column order of traits is customizable and you can choose which traits you want to see and in the order you prefer. To change the order, simply click the trait and drag; to add new traits, locate it in the tab titled “Traits” under the Select Sires logo, click the box of the desired trait to blue and it will be added as the first column. You can also filter the criteria by using the click and drag sliders or by typing parameters into the white boxes below each trait.
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The first opportunity for customization is the “Breed, Brand, Product Status & Type” drop down, located in the left column of the search screen. In this section, you can select your desired breed, stud, young sires and/or daughter-proven sires, limited availability sexed and sexed 4M products.
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In the “High Interest” drop down menu, you can filter available sires to include or exclude Polled results, Red genetics and Beta-Casein options. Once you’ve set your search criteria, you can export your list to an Excel file for saving and printing.
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Below the “Breed, Brand, Product Status & Type” drop down, there is a “Special Designations” drop down. This is specific to Select Sires and associated product lines and will only populate sires that qualify for the chosen designations.
To export, first select individual bulls by clicking the box to the left of each sire’s NAAB code, or select all bulls listed by clicking the box to the left of the column titled “NAAB.” Click the “Export” button located near the bottom of the screen. In the subsequent pop-up, you will have an opportunity to select traits for export. Input a file name and click “Export” again. Your file will automatically download.
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FIND MY COWTM NOW AVAILABLE IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA CowManager’s new module, Find my Cow, is now officially available for sale in the United States and Canada through the Select Sires federation. Searching for cows in heat, sick cows, cull cows and cows in the wrong pens using Find my Cow will save you time and money. Saving labor and costs During the entire Find my Cow project, CowManager kept its focus on the company’s vision to develop smart and easy to understand solutions to make producers’ lives easier, saving labor and costs. Find my Cow comes with a user-friendly cow locator device, which enables producers to quickly find cows in the barn and outside on pasture. The installation is very easy. There is no need for extra beacons or calibrations and the module is compatible with all of CowManager’s operational systems. When using the CowManager web application or mobile app, users can select the cow number(s) they want to find. The ear sensor will receive a signal that makes them visible for the Find my Cow locator. The locator can find cows up to 300-meters (984 feet) in free line of sight. When walking into the barn or pasture, you will be guided via the easy-to-understand seven-color user interface. Red means that you are far away from the cow with lights changing to orange, yellow and green as you get closer to the cow. Find my Cow also shows which employee found which cow at what time. The daily work-lists available on the locator are easy to use. Take advantage of an introduction discount on Find my Cow To introduce Find my Cow in the United States and Canada, CowManager is offering a 10 percent discount on the software. To qualify for the discount, visit www.cowmanager.com and select the Contact tab. Fill out the form to be contacted by a sales representative in your area. u
Learn more about the benefits of Find my Cow on page 15.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE TEST PANEL
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“Find my Cow is very easy to use. It made things so efficient to find out where your cow is instead of walking back and forth and looking at all your cow numbers. You hold it in your hand and it literally lights up. It helps saving labor and time and my employees love it!”
Katie Falk Southern Ridge Cow Palace, 600 cows
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Sander Penterman from Dutch Dairy LLC also piloted Find my Cow. He believes this will help him and his employees spend less time looking for cows that need to be bred, treated or given special attention. “I’ll be
able to walk by and find cows just standing in front of the feedline.”
Sander Penterman Dutch Dairy LLC, 850 cows
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“I started testing Find my Cow a few months ago. My experience with Find my Cow is that it really saves me time I can now spend somewhere else at the farm. Find my Cow makes CowManager complete.”
Dimitry Gruppen Dittmannsdorfer Milch GmbH, Germany, 3,000 cows
About CowManager CowManager develops and produces innovative cow-monitoring solutions to improve productivity and profitability on the modern dairy farm. Thousands of producers in more than 35 countries rely on CowManager’s easy-to-install, user-friendly ear sensor system. It maximizes profit by monitoring your cows’ fertility, health, nutrition, and location, with impressive accuracy. CowManager has revolutionized cow monitoring systems with ground breaking innovations, and by inventing the active ear tag technology, based on generations of knowledge, science and the drive to improve every day.
GENETIC EVALUATION ADVANCEMENTS Chuck Sattler, vice president of genetic programs
The December 2018 genetic evaluations reflected new and innovative genetic research to provide more accurate predictions in sire data.
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A more accurate genome map improves the accuracy of imputed genotypes. And, more accurate imputed genotypes lead to more accurate genomic evaluations.
New and improved map of bovine genome USDA-AGIL and UC-Davis researchers have published an updated version of sequence of DNA bases that make up the bovine genome. DNA is sequenced by fragmenting the genome, sequencing the fragments and then assembling the sequence data into the correct order based on how the fragments fit together. Newly developed DNA testing technology allows for sequencing of longer stretches of chromosome. This makes it easier to reassemble because there are fewer fragments and leads to a more accurate sequence at the end of the process. Using a more accurate sequence map improves the accuracy of genomic evaluations because it improves the accuracy of imputed genotypes. Many animals with genomic evaluations are genomic tested using chips that include 10,000 or fewer markers. However, to be included in the genomic evaluations, the genotype for each animal needs to be standardized. Currently, the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) standardizes all genotypes to include information on 80,000 markers. CDCB takes genotypes based on a small number of markers and uses their extensive database of animal genotypes to fill in the information on the missing markers based on genotypes of their relatives. This process is called imputation and it is a key part of any genomic evaluation. Imputation uses information from the sequence map to know the order of the genetic markers.
Impact
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The combined impact of the improved map and the expanded set of SNPs improved the reliability of genomic evaluations by one to two percentage points.
While this may seem small, these incremental improvements in evaluation accuracy add up over time and make a meaningful difference. Most other genomic evaluations available in the industry from other evaluation service providers continue to use a set of only 45,000 markers, similar to where CDCB started in 2009.
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In December, the number of markers used in genomic predictions was increased from 60,000 to 80,000.
Expanded set of SNP markers Compared to the introduction of genomic evaluations in 2009, today’s genomic evaluations use twice as much DNA information. Some of the markers added to the set detect differences in genes known to impact important traits. In addition, new markers have been discovered through full genome sequencing of hundreds of the most influential animals and the markers were added to improve the prediction power of genomic evaluations. Similar to the improvements in the sequence map, this expanded set of markers also improved the accuracy of CDCB genomic evaluations. This change had the biggest impact on those breeds with the largest reference populations – Holsteins and Jerseys.
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The implementation of these improvements introduced an above average amount of fluctuation in PTA values this sire summary. There was also a general decline in evaluations mostly attributable to declines in PTAs for the production traits. Here is a summary of proof changes for Holsteins and Jerseys: Milk
Fat
Protein
NM$
TPI
0
-1
0
-6
-11
Genomic Young Sire Holstein
-23
-2
-1
-16
-23
Daughter-Proven Jersey
-35
-1
-1
-7
-2
Genomic Young Sire Jersey
-41
-3
-1
-18
-5
Daughter-Proven Holstein
®
CowManager is a registered trademark of Agis Automatisering
Accuracy. No less.
Find my Cow™ is the latest addition to CowManager. It comes with a user-friendly locator device, which fits in your pocket and enables you to locate cows in the barn, on the feed lot or on pasture. Find my Cow is compatible with all CowManager operating systems. No matter the size of your dairy, searching for cows in heat, sick cows, cull cows or cows in the wrong pens is now easier with Find my Cow.
Find my Cow. No more Hide and Seek. Ease of use – simplicity of system and installation Saves time and labor in your daily routine Accurately finds cows Fully integrates with CowManager Works inside the barn AND outside for all herd sizes Ask your Select Sires representative about the benefits of CowManager!
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
YOUR SUCCESS Our Passion.
SELECTIONS MISSION
11740 US 42 NORTH • PLAIN CITY • OHIO • 43064-0143
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. Product of the USA.
TM Super Sampler, gender SELECTed, Aggressive Reproductive Technologies, ART, WellnessPRO, Elite Sexed Fertility, Fertility PRO, ProfitMAX, CalvingPRO, Program for Fertility Advancement, PFA, 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. JPI and Jersey Udder Index (JUI) are trademarks of the American Jersey Cattle Association. ®Select Mating Service, SMS, and Select Reproductive Solutions, SRS, StrataGEN® 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. Total Performance Index (TPI) is a registered trademark of Holstein Association USA. Limitations and Conditions of Sale: gender SELECTed semen 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. As a condition of purchasing gender SELECTed semen, the purchaser agrees that gender SELECTed semen will not be reverse sorted or re-sorted unless specifically permitted, in advance, on a case-by-case basis by Select Sires in writing. Select Sires intends to monitor the use of the gender SELECTed semen and vigorously enforce these restrictions on use. Please see http://www.selectsires.com/ designations/genderselected.html for additional details.
Minster, Ohio 45865 Permit No. 2
