The New Zealand Jerseys are leading the way! In the December Good Bulls Guide 12 of the 15 top spots were made up of New Zealand Jerseys, showing the mass improvement of the breed in recent years. Their production and capacity certainly stand out and of late, with the focus on breeding larger Jerseys with superior udders, LIC is receiving excellent feedback on the ground from farmers that the udders of their Jersey cows are among the best they have seen.
Two bulls that are worth highlighting this year are Besiege and Leopard.
Tironui LT Besiege
Tironui LT Besiege is a top new Jersey graduate coming in with a sky-high Breeding Worth (BW) of $353/82%. For a Jersey sire Besiege’s production certainly packs a punch with combined fat and protein kg coming it at 45kg above the base, which is mainly driven by exceptional components of 5.8% fat and 4.4% protein. Farmers are loving the Besiege daughters with his overall farmer opinion and temperament scores coming in at 0.52 and 0.59. Besiege’s positive udders, capacity, fertility and milking speed means he is ticking all the right boxes.
The Tironui Stud, based in the heart of the Waikato, New Zealand, has produced some of the best-loved Jersey sires like Joskin and Meganev and current genomic sire Superman. The herd is in the top five for BW in New Zealand out of 10,000 herds, which is no mean feat.
Besiege not only shines on the New Zealand system but is also ranking very well on the Australian Breeding Performance Index (BPI). At 264 BPI he’s in the top group of bulls, which is heavily driven by his outstanding production – his ASI is 248.
As one of the top sires going in 2020 supply will be tight and demand strong so if he looks like your kind of bull put your name on some straws ASAP.
Kaitaka Ol Leopard
Leopard holds the second spot on the Good Bulls Guide as of December 2019, sitting at 250 BPI. He is one of many Integrity sons that are proving to rank well in the Australian system. Leopard is a high indexing bull with a Breeding Worth (BW) over 300 in New Zealand. He has extreme power to weight ratio, with daughters pushing out huge production compared to their size.
Due to his high components, moderate litres and size, he is an ideal sire to use over larger stature Jersey and for crossbreeding. Leopard has strong udders coming in at 0.77 and excellent health and fertility traits.
