ACTUALITÉS SUR L'ENTREPRISE

The August 2010 proof round saw the arrival of Semex’s Goldwyn sons and the return of Semex to its role as type leader, much to the approval of type fans worldwide. Looking through the entire Semex lineup though, it’s easy to see that Semex offers much more than sons descending from one family tree.

“Semex has actively sought sires that will offer more to a broader range of customers,” says Brad Sayles, Vice President Global Marketing. “We’re appealing to more and more dairymen worldwide through a product offering that continues to become more diverse. Dairymen are looking for their genetic suppliers to offer more than just the very top of the lists. They’re looking for sires that are outcross sires, highly reliable sires and sires that can get to work today on their bottom line.”

Proof positive of this diversity is the arrival of several Mr Sam sons to the Semex lineup, offering an outcross to herds dominated by Goldwyn and Shottle bloodlines.

One of these, is the #1 PTAT Mr Sam and #3 Conformation sire, 0200HO02137 Pine-Tree Sid. From a VG-88 DOM Finley dam, this Designer Series™, Health$mart™ sire offers dramatic improvement over dams and is a transmitter of strength and tremendous mammary systems. These claims are evident in his August showing, at +18 Conf, +17 Mammary System and +15 Dairy Strength with 2.93 SCS, +108 Herd Life, +102 Calving Ability and +110 Dtr Calving Ability on LPI. On the USA TPI rankings he’s an impressive +3.02 PTAT, +2.61 UDC, +2.02 FLC with a low 2.90 SCS and tremendous mammary systems at +3.93 FU Attach, +2.82 RU Height, +2.76 RU Width and +2.94 U Cleft. Additionally, he’s a high fertilty Repromax™ sire.

0200HO03498 Gillette Winners is a Mr Sam from a VG-88 10* Blitz dam that traces back to Canada’s famous Gypsy Grand family. “These daughters are deep-ribbed, with good udders that are well-attached. Breeders will appreciate an outcross sire like Winners,” says USA Premier™ Consultant Nick Sarbacker. Ranking as the #4 PTAT Mr Sam son, Winners is a Designer Series™ sire that meets the needs of many, arriving at +2.29 PTAT, +2.01 UDC with a 7 for Calving Ease and is also a high fertility Repromax™ sire.

Proven in April, Repromax™ sire 0200HO02106 Stantons Steady is from the famous Saturday family, Steady’s dam is a VG-85 17* Convincer from the VG-86 35* Rudolph Stress cow. This family is well-known for delivering profitable sires to the marketplace including seven other sires at Semex. “These are big, black, powerful, angular cows,” says Carl Saucier, CIAQ Progeny Analyst. “They have shallow udders with tremendous fore udders, are wide with hard tops, balance and style.” Balanced throughout this Repromax™ sire has a +2.19 PTAT, +1.35 FLC all with an impressive +.21% F, calving ease and low somatic cell score giving him all the qualifications to be both a Designer Series™ and Health$mart™ sire.

Sourcing the best genetics worldwide, Semex utilized the German star Laudan, known for transmitting high yields, good udder health, good fitness and longevity, on a BW Marshall from the same family that gave us Semex great Canyon-Breeze Allen. The result was Health$mart™ sire 0200HO00423 Canyon-Breeze Alaska, Semex’s #1 LPI Release sire in April, now ranking an impressive #13 LPI at +2164 GLPI as a Semex Health$mart™ sire with +108 Herd Life, +104 Milking Speed, +107 Dtr Calving Ability, +106 Dtr Fertility with positive components. In the USA, he’s the #3 PTAT Laudan son, showing the same desirable herd health traits, excellent type and positive deviations at +1.96 PTAT, +2.4 PL, 8 Calving Ease, +.05%F, +.06%P and low 2.85 SCS.

Breeders looking for highly proven genetics trust Semex as their source for cows that are the longest-lasting, most profitable cows in their herds. These sires can be used with confidence, as they’ve been proven in many herds with daughters backing up their success.

0200HO05024 Dudoc Mr Burns *RC has literally been red hot since his release in February 2007, with an extremely balanced proof that is proven to deliver worldwide! Now, the #3 Second Crop Sire in Canada, Mr Burns *RC is a sire that delivers ideal foot structure, shallow, well-attached udders, good production and components from a strong maternal line. As a Semex Master Series™ and Designer Series™ sire, dairymen worldwide appreciate how his daughters mature and develop, milking from high, wide rear udders built to last.

0200HO00402 Mainstream Manifold remains a step above all other Oman sons on the market today. This Repromax™ and Health$mart™ sire has carved out his own niche, being just one of two sires in the 100 High Ranking Sire report to be over 1000M, greater than 70 lbs Fat, over 40 lbs Protein, positive for deviations, under 3.00 for SCS, over 3.0 PL while posting greater than 1.00 for both PTAT and UDC! His NM$ is 597 with an impressive +2072 TPI, ranking him as the #10 TPI sire of the breed overall.

“The Manifold daughters are really good commercial cows,” says Michelle Pedretti, Semex USA West Coast Premier™ Consultant. “They are medium sized, strong cows with good depth of rib and nice width in their rumps. Manifolds are extremely youthful in their udder attachments; their fore udders blend smoothly with nice veination and they show great height and width to their rear udders, walking on strong pasterns that easily get them to and from the feedbunk and parlors.”

Another Oman son, 0200HO09804 Crockett-Acres Eight, continues to rank high on the LPI listing at #6. A high fertility Repromax™ and Health$mart™ sire from a famous Mtoto dam, with eight more generations of VG or EX, Eight was the highest ranking newly-proven sire in Canada when he debuted in April 2009 and remains in the same position today. Dairymen describe their Eight daughters as a dream at 111 Herd Life, 2.54 SCS, 109 Calving Ability, 107 Daughter Fertility, making them hardly noticeable in the barn. Eight converts well to the USA TPI with 100 lbs combined Fat & Protein and those workability traits dairymen love at 2.76 SCS, 6 Calving Ease and 2.7 PL.

High fertility Repromax™ sire, 0200HO03315 Braedale Pagewire can be trusted as a time tested Master Series™ sire that combines a great maternal line and a strong second crop to drive breeders back to using him again and again. “Looking in the lots, the Pagewires stand out as being some of the best daughters in their herds,” says Semex Sire Analyst Mike West. “He’s a sire of sons at Semex, with Genomax™ sons available shortly. Dairymen are going back and using him again and again. His reliability and pleasing type traits make him an easy mating for so many of today’s cows.”

Dairymen looking for the most reliable in health traits need look no further than Semex’s 99% Reliability Master Series™ BW Marshall son, 0200HO04779 R-E-W Buckeye. Proven in August 2005, many considered Buckeye to be their favorite BW Marshall son. Today, he’s still as solid as ever, offering +1.41 PTAT, +1.44 UDC and +1.30 FLC with a 6 for Calving Ease, 2.3 PL and low Somatic Cell Score. With over 22,000 dtrs/8,000 (type) and over 36,000 dtrs/12,000 herds (prod) dairymen can trust this Semex Health$mart™ sire, who breeds healthy cows that contribute lactation after lactation.

Looking towards the future, Semex trusts its Balanced Breeding philosophy as a guide to all of its mating decisions.

“We’re still looking for deep pedigrees, good sire stacks and cows that combine production and type,” says Pierre Laliberte, Semex Alliance Senior Vice President, Genetics & Research. “Genomics give us another tool to use. It has helped offer better young sires to our customers. The customers that have used our Genomax™ lineup are very happy.”

While genomics may not be the key to success for all dairymen, Semex continues to use this tool to help select the next generation of sires. For those dairymen looking to put this tool to use, the Genomax™ lineup at Semex has offered diversity, with bulls like 0200HO05575 Gillette Jordan, 0200HO05428 My-John Karik and 0200HO05378 Klover-Hill Java, as examples of proven success.