Several will be slightly delayed in release, as they must be quarantined and drawn before they are released. However this round did herald three important new sires for immediate release, and also verified the accurate rankings of the existing sire line-up.
Raastad 252NR10115, maintains his top placing for one more proof round, actually moving up one Index point to 27 in his Total Merit Index (TMI), as a result of an increase from 108 to 111 in his daughter fertility rating. This sire is two standard deviations above the Norwegian Red sire team for udder conformation and milking speed, with good temperament, so farmers love to work with his daughters. They also are one standard deviation above for production, with high fat and protein % and yields, for fertility, disease resistance, and stature, with legs that are criticised for being slightly straighter than breed average. This is not a major fault, in my view, as Norwegian Red cattle have slightly more curvature of hock than North American breeds, and classifiers are more critical of straight hocks. Use this outstanding sire on lactating cows, to avoid any calving difficulty.
Velsvik 252NR10432 leaps over Hjulstad 252NR10245 the noted udder improver, to land in second place, with a one point improvement in his TMI at 25, partly because he adds 21 daughters to his proof, with a total of 186 now, and his production proof overall rises to 97, with extreme improvement in fat percent (134), excellent protein percent (112), resulting in fat yield of 112 and almost breed average protein yield (95). With easy calving (113), great improvement in daughter fertility (122) and in the top 1% of sires for mastitis resistance (109), low stillbirths (107), with great udders (118), and milking speed (114) this sire is making friends in North America and around the world, as a mate for milky cows with low % ‘s!
Bosnes 252NR10402 moves into a tie for third ranking this round, with the udder improver, Hjulstad 252NR10245, improving his overall TMI rating by 2 index points on the strength of 14 additional daughters with improved fertility at 109. This sire leaves tremendous production (121) with improved %’s , medium sized daughters , with shallow udders with strong midribs (119), and he is an easy calver (113), with very low stillbirths (122) so a great sire for heifer breedings.
A newly proven sire, Sormarka 252NR10462, black and horned , has a well balanced proof with a TMI of 21, solid for production (103), leaving excellent udders ( 116), with strong fore(120) and rear (115) attachments, which may appeal for robot milking herds, as the rear teats are wider than the fore teats in placement. Daughters are fertile (108) with good resistance to mastitis (106) and other diseases(105). Sormarka is relatively easy on calving (104), and has lower than breed average stillbirths (108).
Perhaps the most exciting newly proven sire is a red polled heterozygous sire, Nord-Braut 252NR10468, the top polled sire with a well-balanced proof. The Nor-Braut sire starts off one point higher for TMI than his illustrious herd mate at 18, with lower but solid credentials for production (105). Nor- Braut is superior for daughter fertility (115), with very low stillbirths (116), easy calving (102) and resistance to mastitis(104) and other diseases (111). Nord-Braut edges out his herdmate Braut for udders (113 vs. 107), but is just breed average for legs and feet (98), while the Braut bull leaves exceptional legs and feet (115). These bulls are not at all closely related being unrelated in the first three generations, so they can be used in the same herd when crossing!
Another outstanding Peterslund son Hoston 252NR10465, has graduated with a TMI of 17, and very high production (115), improving %’s for fat and protein as well, with easy calving (111) and low stillbirths (115) making him a candidate for heifer matings. Hoston is an improver for daughter fertility (105) and resistance to mastitis (102). Udders are strongly attached in fore (111), and well off the ground (105). This high production sire will breed the same way as his outstanding paternal half-brother, Halsne 252NR10406, who has the same TMI of 17!
The remainder of the sire line-up maintained their high rankings close to the mark achieved when first proven, largely because of the very large progeny groups in comparison to other proving programs! Proofs based on 200 or more heifer records don’t change much over time, so dairy farmers can mate to elite Norwegian Red sires with confidence!