Increase your herd’s genetic value
Choose the bull teams you want, then contact your LIC rep to buy.
A2
A2A2 genomically selected bull team. Ideal if your breeding objective is to go A2A2.
Forward Pack
Top performers from our Daughter Proven teams, plus a selection of elite young bulls. Ideal for fast-tracking genetic gains.
Daughter Proven
Bulls with a proven track record. The right choice if you’re looking for reliable, consistent results at a good price.
Changes to Daughter Proven - 2024
LIC is retiring the Premier Sires Jersey Daughter Proven product this year.
This decision hasn’t been made lightly given the Jersey Daughter Proven team has been part of the fabric of LIC genetic offerings for decades.
However, we’ve seen a significant drop in demand for the Daughter Proven teams with close to 80% of our total Premier Sires inseminations now going to our Forward Pack teams, which includes a mix of the best Daughter Proven bulls along with elite young genomic bulls.
Does this mean LIC will have less bulls overall?
No. We will still have the right number of bulls to meet demand – over time we will simply have more elite bulls that have been selected on their genetic merit.
Will LIC continue to use Daughter Proven bulls?
Yes, the top Daughter Proven and elite young bulls will be used in Forward Pack and Alpha Pack frozen options.
Why is the Premier Sires Jersey Daughter Proven product first to be retired?
This decision has been made because we’ve seen a significant drop in demand for the Daughter Proven teams with close to 80% of our total Premier Sires inseminations now going to our Forward Pack teams, which includes a mix of the best Daughter Proven bulls along with elite young genomic bulls.
By retiring this product, it allows LIC to focus on delivering more genetic gain for the Jersey breed by simplifying our Premier Sires offering.
Daughter Proven products are a cost-effective option - does this mean farmers will have to opt for premium products with higher price tags?
While we have been seeing significant growth in sales towards our Premier Sires Forward Pack products, LIC continues to offer a wide range of semen products to suit individuals’ herd aspirations and budgets.
Options include:
- Premier Sires Forward Pack
- Alpha Pack frozen options
Do LIC’s Genomically Selected bulls have higher gBWs than Daughter Proven bulls?
LIC data validation shows that Premier Sires Forward Pack teams deliver more genetic gain than Daughter Proven teams alone. When comparing the genetic gain from Forward Pack and Daughter Proven teams between 2017 and 2020, the average gBW of the Forward Pack teams is 17.8 gBW greater than the Daughter Proven teams across all three breeds (Jersey, KiwiCross and Holstein Friesian).
Each Premier Sires team is carefully selected to optimise genetic gain. Every team has a weighted average across breeding worth (gBW) and traits other than production (TOP). This value reflects the use of top-ranked bulls in each team. We’ll make sure your herd is mated with a good selection of bulls in the team to achieve close to the team’s weighted average.
Can LIC be confident in Genomically Selected bulls without daughter proofs?
Advancements in genomic technology allow us to know a bull’s genetic merit upfront meaning we are less reliant on daughter proofs, and sales show our farmers have increasing confidence Genomically Selected bulls.
Genomic predictions have become more accurate over time due to the increased number of animals being genotyped and ongoing statistical developments.
Is LIC reducing its investment in genetics?
LIC is committed to breeding the best cows faster. The collection of phenotypes through a structured acquisition programme will always be of critical importance to LIC – the retirement of Daughter Proven products do not impact our ability to build on our collection.
Each year LIC invests around $18 million into R&D (7% of revenue), making us one of the largest private investors in R&D for the primary sector. These investments enable us to focus on faster genetic gain for the national herd.
Save time and money
Decide which of our teams of genetically superior bulls you want to breed from, then draft your cows out on the day of mating. It’s that simple. There’s no need to spend time going through bull lists nominating individual bulls to breed from. And, you get cheaper access to New Zealand’s top bulls by using Premier Sires.
Breed from New Zealand’s top bulls
Each Premier Sires team is carefully selected to optimise genetic gain. Every team has a weighted average across breeding worth (BW) and traits other than production (TOP). This value reflects the use of top-ranked bulls in each team. We’ll make sure your herd is mated with a good selection of bulls in the team to achieve close to the team’s weighted average.
Choose from three breeds of genetically superior bulls:
- Holstein-Friesian
- Jersey
- KiwiCross.
All the bulls in our Daughter Proven teams are graduates of our Sire Proving Scheme, a rigorous four-year programme to identify New Zealand’s top bulls. Many Premier Sires bulls feature in the top 30 of the Ranking of Active Sires (RAS) List — New Zealand’s top-ranked dairy sires.
Some of the bulls in our Forward Pack teams have not yet graduated from the Sire Proving Scheme. These elite young bulls show great genetic promise and allow you to gain a competitive advantage.
All bulls in our A2 teams are currently going through our Sire Proving Scheme and are awaiting daughter proofs.
Artificial breeding technician service
Let our experienced technicians do the hard work of inseminating your herd, using fresh semen stored in our exclusive Long Last Liquid, which means it stays fresh for three days. You can also do the inseminating yourself.
- Forward Pack — for farmers looking to fast-track genetic gains.
- Daughter Proven — for farmers who want proven bulls.
- A2 teams - for farmers who want an A2 herd.
- Sexed.
We regularly monitor the performance of all Premier Sires bulls during the season, and change the makeup of the teams if necessary.
Forward Pack — fast-track genetic gains
Forward Pack teams are made up of the top performers from our Daughter Proven teams, plus a selection of elite young bulls that show great genetic promise. From mid-October we add early daughter proven Spring bulls to the Forward Pack team.
Forward Pack is a good choice to gain a competitive edge. You get to breed from our best daughter proven bulls — and you also get to fast-track genetic gain through early access to the bulls we expect to become star performers. We have a Forward Pack team for Holstein-Friesian, Jersey and KiwiCross bulls.
Holstein-Friesian Forward Pack
Jersey Forward Pack
KiwiCross Forward Pack
Daughter Proven — for proven bulls
Daughter Proven teams are made up entirely of graduates from our Sire Proving Scheme. These bulls have a proven track record, making Daughter Proven teams the right choice if you’re looking for reliable, consistent results at a good price.
We have a Daughter Proven team for Holstein-Friesian, Jersey and KiwiCross bulls, as well as two smaller teams specifically for breeding with yearlings, where ease of calving is important.
Holstein-Friesian Daughter Proven
Jersey Daughter Proven
KiwiCross Daughter Proven
Holstein-Friesian Yearling Daughter Proven
KiwiCross Yearling Daughter Proven
A2 teams - for A2 bulls
A2 teams are made up of genomically selected sires that carry the A2 protein allele. These teams are the right choice if you're transitioning your herd to A2 or you already have an A2 herd.
We have three A2 teams:
Holstein-Friesian A2
KiwiCross A2
KiwiCross Yearling A2
We do not have a specific A2 Jersey team due to the high frequency of the A2 allele in the Jersey population. A2 teams are unavailable in conjunction with a Daughter Proven plan or Forward Pack plan of the same breed and animal group.
Sexed bulls - for more heifer calves
We offer teams of bulls whose semen has been sexed to increase the chance of producing a heifer from 50% to 90%.
Our sexed teams are made up of elite young bulls that show great genetic promise.
Sexed bull teams are only available if there is enough interest.
Contact your LIC rep to register your interest early in the season.
They’re experts at what they do — they perform almost 5 million inseminations using fresh semen every year, and produce consistently high conception rates. We regularly monitor our technicians to ensure their performance is up to high standards.
Contact your LIC rep to book an artificial breeding technician.
DIY insemination option
We also offer a DIY insemination option. Improve your inseminating technique with our 5-day artificial insemination training course.
See DIY insemination for more information about the training courses and how to buy DIY insemination equipment.
DIY insemination training
|
DIY full course - 1 week |
$899 |
|
|---|---|---|
|
DIY refresher training - 1 day |
$300 |
All prices exclude GST.
The technician can then inseminate the cow with a more suitable bull.
DataMATE also updates your mating records in MINDA.
If you’re doing the inseminating yourself we’ll use your herd records to prepare a DIY Mating Report identifying potentially risky matings. Your herd records must be up to date in MINDA before we can prepare the report.
Inbreeding and recessive genes – more details about how we reduce the risks of inbreeding.
BW reliability and how it works
BW reliability indicates how confident we are that an animal’s BW reflects its true merit.
Reliability measures how much information has contributed to the animal’s trait evaluation. It is shown as a number on a scale of 0 to 99.
If the reliability is high (in the nineties) the index is not likely to change greatly as further information is included in an animal’s evaluation. It may change greatly, but the chances of it doing so are small.
The lower the reliability, the more likely the index will significantly change as further information is added to the evaluation.
The more information that is included in the evaluation (such as daughters and lactations), the higher the reliability. If a bull has no recorded parents and no recorded offspring, his BW has a reliability of 0.
It’s important to realise that the reliability says nothing about the bull — it refers to the amount of information we have about the bull’s relatives in general, and his daughters in particular. We might say: “This bull has a low reliability,” but we really mean that the bull’s evaluation is based on the performance records of only a small sample of daughters.
Using a team of bulls gives you greater protection from individual bull movements.
Premier Sires® technician service prices
Genetics pricing effective 1 April 2024.
Customers are charged per 100 inseminations or part thereof, depending on the number of inseminations to Premier Sires. As described in the tables, the average cost of inseminations decreases as the number of cows being put to AB increases.
|
Qualifying inseminations* |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) |
Forward Pack (per insemination) |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Qualifying inseminations* 1-100 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $28.60 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $30.60 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $30.60 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $30.60 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 101-200 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $28.05 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $30.05 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $30.05 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $30.05 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 201-300 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $27.55 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $29.55 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $29.55 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $29.55 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 301-400 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $26.90 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $28.90 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $28.90 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $28.90 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 401-500 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $26.30 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $28.30 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $28.30 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $28.30 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 501-600 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $25.65 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $27.65 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $27.65 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $27.65 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 601-700 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $25.05 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $27.05 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $27.05 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $27.05 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 701-800 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $24.40 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $26.40 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $26.40 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $26.40 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 801-900 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $23.80 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $25.80 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $25.80 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $25.80 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 901-1000 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $23.15 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $25.15 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $25.15 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $25.15 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 1001-1100 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $22.55 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $24.55 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $24.55 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $24.55 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 1101-2000 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $21.85 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $23.85 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $23.85 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $23.85 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 2001-5000 |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $21.00 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $23.00 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $23.00 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $23.00 |
|
Qualifying inseminations* 5001+ |
Daughter Proven (per insemination) $20.70 |
Forward Pack (per insemination) $22.70 |
A2/A2 team** (per insemination) $22.70 |
SGL Dairy (per insemination) $22.70 |
*Qualifying inseminations include: All Premier Sires products; Fresh Sexed Semen; Fresh SGL Dairy, and; Fresh SGL Hereford.
**The Premier Sires A2/A2 team is comprised of genomically-selected bulls only.
All prices exclude GST.
Premier Sires DIY prices
Genetics pricing effective 1 April 2024.
|
Number of cows |
Daughter Proven (per straw) |
Forward Pack (per straw) |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) |
SGL Dairy (per straw) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of cows 1-100 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $27.60 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $29.60 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $29.60 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $29.60 |
|
Number of cows 101-200 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $27.05 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $29.05 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $29.05 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $29.05 |
|
Number of cows 201-300 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $26.55 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $28.55 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $28.55 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $28.55 |
|
Number of cows 301-400 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $25.90 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $27.90 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $27.90 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $27.90 |
|
Number of cows 401-500 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $25.30 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $27.30 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $27.30 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $27.30 |
|
Number of cows 501-600 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $24.65 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $26.65 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $26.65 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $26.65 |
|
Number of cows 601-700 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $24.05 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $26.05 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $26.05 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $26.05 |
|
Number of cows 701-800 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $23.40 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $25.40 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $25.40 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $25.40 |
|
Number of cows 801-900 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $22.80 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $24.80 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $24.80 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $24.80 |
|
Number of cows 901-1000 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $22.15 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $24.15 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $24.15 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $24.15 |
|
Number of cows 1001-1100 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $21.55 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $23.55 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $23.55 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $23.55 |
|
Number of cows 1101-2000 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $20.85 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $22.85 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $22.85 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $22.85 |
|
Number of cows 2001-5000 |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $20.00 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $22.00 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $22.00 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $22.00 |
|
Number of cows 5001+ |
Daughter Proven (per straw) $19.70 |
Forward Pack (per straw) $21.70 |
A2/A2 team* (per straw) $21.70 |
SGL Dairy (per straw) $21.70 |
* The Premier Sires A2/A2 team is comprised of genomically-selected bulls only.
All prices exclude GST.
Premier Sires® pricing examples
Forward Pack
Forward Pack delivers the best of Daughter Proven, Genomically Selected, and Spring sires. Forward Pack is unavailable in conjunction with a Daughter Proven plan for the same breed and animal group.
As the number of inseminations increase, prices move down the graduated price scale, and each insemination is charged at the appropriate Daughter Proven or Forward Pack or A2/A2 rate.
Example 1: Your 100th and your 101st Forward Pack insemination would be charged at $30.60 and $30.05 respectively.
Daughter Proven
Example 2: If you were to have 320 Daughter Proven Premier Sires Technician Service inseminations, you’d be charged $8958 in total, which over 320 cows is an average of $27.99 per cow.
|
Number of inseminations |
Price per insemination |
Total cost for each hundred |
|---|---|---|
|
Number of inseminations 1-100 |
Price per insemination $28.60 |
Total cost for each hundred $2860 |
|
Number of inseminations 101-200 |
Price per insemination $28.05 |
Total cost for each hundred $2805 |
|
Number of inseminations 201-300 |
Price per insemination $27.55 |
Total cost for each hundred $2755 |
|
Number of inseminations 301-320 |
Price per insemination $26.90 |
Total cost for each hundred $538 |
Total cost: $8958
Average cost per insemination for 320 cows: $27.99
All prices exclude GST.
InvestaMate Discount
|
Percentage discount |
Year of qualification |
How/When applied |
|---|---|---|
|
Percentage discount 3% |
Year of qualification First |
How/When applied Applied as a credit in March, following the season's mating. |
|
Percentage discount 5% |
Year of qualification Second |
How/When applied At the time of charging. |
|
Percentage discount 10% |
Year of qualification Third and subsequent |
How/When applied At the time of charging. |
You will move up or down the InvestaMate scale each season depending on whether the 95% threshold was met in the previous season.
Straw purchases may comprise any combination of Premier Sires or Alpha straws. Premier Sires Fresh Sexed and Sire Proving Scheme inseminations contribute to the 95% threshold of (InvestaMate) qualifying purchases.
‘Qualifying’ animals are female animals born prior to 31 December 2021 in the ‘herd’ at the time of October charging. ‘Herd’ is defined as the ‘whole herd’ group in MINDA. The InvestaMate discount does not apply to Premier Sires Fresh Sexed or Sire Proving Scheme products (i.e. InvestaMate discounts only apply to Premier Sires Daughter Proven, Premier Sires Forward Pack, Premier Sires A2/A2, and Alpha products).
All prices exclude GST.
Increase your herd’s genetic value
Choose the bull teams you want, then contact your LIC rep to buy.
