I travelled throughout Northland, Waikato, and Taranaki between February and April this season and have inspected a large number of contract-mating cows, especially Jersey cows, and naturally I’ve also had the privilege to walk through a good number of Jersey herds during that time.
In most herds I saw very few cows with below-average udders.
Some of the standout cows I was fortunate to view were bred from sires like Floyd, Superman, Integrity, Misty, Bastille, Laredo and Lamar.
My overall observation is that the Jersey breed in New Zealand is of high-quality, certainly punching above its weight, and Jersey farmers can be rightly proud of what they have achieved, especially over the last decade.
The lift in milksolid BVs for Jersey sires over the last 10 years is one of the many highlights for the breed, and currently it’s no surprise to find multiple Jersey sires in LIC’s Premier Sires teams with combined fat and protein BVs of above 50kg.
The high milksolid production, fertility, good udders, and liveweight of Jerseys makes them a sought after, efficient, and versatile breed for all milking regimes.
On the latest RAS list, eight of the top ten All Breeds Sires are LIC Jersey sires.
In the past few months the demand for Jersey females has been phenomenal, and auction prices reflect that. One of Superman’s two-year-old daughters from the Posterity Stud fetched an all-time New Zealand record price of $55,000! This is testament that quality always sells.
I’m fortunate to have the privilege to highlight some of the many superior milksolid Jersey sires currently available in Premier Sires teams. All three bulls below have a combined milksolids BV greater than 50kg.
318009 Tironui Superman ET: Sired by Superstition out of the well proven Tironui Integ Meg, this sire from the Tironui Stud boasts an incredible combined milksolid BV of 70kg. Superman has certainly become one of my favourite proven bulls this year, having inspected multiple daughters with great capacity and very good udders.
Superman graduated last season and is available in the potential Premier Sires Forward Pack and Daughter Proven teams.
321039 Foxton O First Class ET: Bred from within the Foxton herd, First Class is a high-ranking genomic young sire with excellent milksolid production, boasting a combined protein and fat gBV of 60kg. He is out of a cow family with big production and outstanding longevity. The three females behind this bull have an average of 10 lactations with PWs above 400. First Class is available in the potential Premier Sires Sexed Semen team.
321023 Tawa Grove MV Ngatoro: From the Tawa Grove herd in Taranaki, Ngatoro is a high fat and protein Veracity son with a fat/protein gBV of 53kg. This bull is out of a high producing Jingo dam, which has notched up seven outstanding lactations, including multiple lactations above 400 LW.
One of the great bulls of the past, Tawa Grove Maunga ET SJ3 (also bred by the Cartwrights), features on the dam side. This boy is available in the potential Premier Sires Forward Pack.
The Jersey offering is outstanding in 2022, be sure to watch the RAS List for latest bull information, together with updates on LIC’s website which includes information on the genomic breeding worth of all teams and individual bulls within those teams.
Animal Evaluation figures quoted are from the April AE run.
