Do you ever find yourself saying things like:
“I will not use a bull with negative DPR under any circumstances.” or “I need bulls over a point on type.”
While it is important to have high standards for yourself and your genetics, applying too many criteria to sire selection can greatly reduce the number of qualified sires and unintentionally eliminate some sires that excel in traits important for the genetic progress of your herd.
Consider this bull, who would not appear on a list where criteria for Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) was set to >0 OR PTA Type (PTAT) was set to >1.0.
As of April 2023 proofs, HAYWARD is in the Top 1% of all bulls available for Herd Health Profit Dollars® (HHP$®), in the top 1% of all bulls for Somatic Cell Score (SCS), Top 35% for PTA Milk, and Top 1% for Productive Life. He’s also in the top 1% for Dairy Wellness Profit Index® (DWP$®), Top 8% for Total Performance Index® (TPI®), and Top 5% for Net Merit Dollars (NM$). In addition, he qualifies for FeedPRO® and Mastitis ResistantPRO® designations.
If we had applied a criteria of >0 DPR, or a criteria of >1.0 PTAT, we would have completely missed out on the opportunity to capitalize on the ways in which this bull excels. Remember that variation is one of the key components to genetic progress. We need variation (or bulls with extreme traits) to help drive genetic progress. If we continue using bulls that are average for all traits, we will continue to produce cows that are average for all traits.
So, what should you discuss with your genetic advisor instead of specific criteria?
Discuss your overall long-term goals for your operation. This will help give them an idea of the right type of genetics to consider for you. Be open minded and consider bulls that fall within 20% and/or one standard deviation of what your criteria have been. For example, if you state you don’t like bulls with negative DPR, consider discussing setting the criteria limit at -1.0 DPR, as long as the bull is a good fit for other traits. When talking with your advisor, look at the strengths that each bull brings to the table. Remember - you are not using only one sire, but rather a group of sires on a population of females.
Let’s consider another example:
“I need four bulls that are positive for DPR, over 1500 pounds of milk, and positive for fat and protein percentages.”
In an effort to make you happy, your genetic advisor will take out their computer and open their favorite bull file, such as the Genetic Value Calculator. They will add in the filters as the you requested and find the following group of bulls:
This is great! All of these bulls meet what you said you wanted. However, the problem with this approach is that you can end up leaving a lot of genetic gain on the table. So, is this really the best group of bulls we can offer?
What if we took your strict criteria and adjusted the thresholds slightly? Let’s look at what happens when we run a list of bulls for over 1200 PTAM, DPR still greater than -1.0, and completely removed the criteria for Fat % and Pro %?
While none of the four bulls in this table meet every criteria you stated, they all bring huge benefits in at least one of the traits we want to make progress in. By slightly adjusting the criteria thresholds, we were able to find some bulls with greater genetic variation (extreme strengths) to help drive faster genetic progress.
As a group, this second group of bulls brings in almost 2 points of DPR, compared to +0.43 in the first group. This means an average of about six fewer days open. For milk, the group of bulls is only 18 pounds of milk below your stated 1500 PTAM threshold, but +.06 higher Protein percent.
Maximizing the WWS Difference
A herd of cows is a group of individuals. In every herd there will be tall cows and short cows, milk cows and component cows, cows that live long, healthy lives, and cows that just want to die! Our customers strive to create a uniform herd, and they dream of a day where they can call every cow in the barn their ‘ideal cow’. But to create a uniform herd, we need variation in bull genetics to match the variation in the cows. Approach criteria with an open mind and flexibility to ensure we are capitalizing on the variation and extreme strengths our bulls have to offer.
PRO TIP: Don’t limit yourself to looking at just four or five sires! Ask your genetic advisor to present you with a number of sires that will be enough to give you options but not too many to make the process overwhelming. In addition, this will give you some excellent back-up options in the situation where one of your preferred sires is not available.