Bull proofs published today by Holstein UK reveal a brand new number one bull ranked on Type Merit on both UK and international rankings. Heavenly Golden Dreams was bred in Lancashire by Claire Swale, whose belief in quality genetics has paid off in abundance with this bull.
In topping the Type Merit rankings with a massive score of 4.41, Golden Dreams pushes a host of internationally acclaimed bulls down the rankings. His own full brother, Atwood, ranks close by in fifth position, reinforcing the breeding potential of this bloodline.
“This is a great triumph for a UK breeder,” says Alison Dunphy from Dairy Daughters who market Golden Dreams. “Claire Swale has stuck to her belief in breeding quality cattle and been rewarded with the first ever sire with which she has gained a daughter proof.”
Golden Dreams’ breed-leading Type Merit is based on the performance of 110 of his daughters in 68 herds in Italy, since the bull was sold to an Italian stud.
“It’s also a great credit to the bull that two of his early daughters were selected to represent Italy at the recent European Holstein Show in Fribourg in Switzerland,” says Mrs Dunphy.
Golden Dreams’ daughters are showing all of the attributes expected from the bull’s outstanding linear profile and more. His legs, feet and mammary scores are almost off the linear scale at 3.86 and 3.56 respectively, while his breeder says his daughters’ ‘presence and pizazz are difficult to quantify’.
This is also reflected in his type ranking in Italy, where he has also just moved into the number one position. Similarly, in Canada today he earns a Final Class on +20, one point ahead of his famous full brother.
But far more than just a type specialist, Golden Dreams transmits outstanding health and fitness traits including excellent daughter fertility, long lifespans and, at -29, one of the best cell count scores of the breed. His Profitable Lifetime Index is a creditable £140.
Golden Dreams has a pedigree reading Goldwyn x MD Delight Durham Atlee EX92 DOM (Durham) x MD Delight STRM Amberlee VG88 (Storm) x MS Kingstead Chief Adeen EX94 (SkyChief) x Aitkenbrae Starbuck Ada EX94 (Starbuck).
His dam was All-American senior 3-year old in 2005; reserve intermediate champion at the World Dairy Expo in 2005 and first senior 3-year old at the World Dairy Expo in 2005.
The family has a prolific record of breeding AI sires including Golden Dreams’ maternal brother, Aftershock.
“It is particularly pleasing for us at Dairy Daughters to see the progression of this bull since we took him on as a young genomic sire in 2009,” says Mrs Dunphy. “His figures today based on daughter performance are closely in line with the genomic predictions but generally somewhat better.”
Dairy Daughters continues to focus on its founding principles of bringing top quality genetics to UK farmers at competitive, direct-marketing prices. This has brought UK breeders some of the great names of the Holstein breed including Oman and Planet.
