The Holstein bull, Genosource Captain, stands firm at the top of the new Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) ranking for daughter-proven sires, published by AHDB.
With a PLI of £800 based on 911 UK milking daughters and thousands more worldwide, this bull continues to affirm his excellent Predicted Transmitting Abilities (PTAs) for production traits (now at 1153kg milk), and strong Feed Advantage (273).
A new graduate enters the running in second place in the form of Cookiecutter Holysmokes.
With a PLI of £797, he mirrors his earlier genomic prediction now that milking daughters are coming on stream. Holysmokes transmits high protein (35.9kg) and good SCCs (-18).
Denovo 16219 Aladdin makes a big leap into third place with a PLI which has risen to £785.
His PTAs show high fat and protein (48.1kg and 36.9kg respectively) and a very good Maintenance Index (-21), meaning daughters will be cheaper to feed.
Ranked in fourth is Bomaz Kettle, who firms up his earlier figures as a great milk solids improver (+0.19% fat, +0.17% protein) and transmits a favourable gestation length of -3 days. His PLI is £783.
Climbing into fifth position is Denovo 14744 Ginetta, another high production bull (91.8kg fat plus protein) with good calf survival of 2.2 and digital dermatitis at 0.6. His PLI is £778.
Winstar Medel P is another bull to jump up the rankings as new daughter information is added, and he now has 253 milking in the UK.
This polled sire of sons has a PLI of £766 and shows extreme fat figures (56.7kg, +0.37%) and good daughter Fertility Index (FI 7.1).
This means daughters are expected have a shorter calving interval and a better non-return rate (at 56 days) than those by a bull whose FI is zero.
In seventh place is Denovo 15826 Knight, who transmits high lifespan (+143 days) and good Lameness Advantage (3.2), each contributing to a PLI of £764.
Westcoast River remains in the top 10 (PLI £742), with outstanding udder health (-32 SCC, -3 Mastitis) and a very good Fertility Index (12.3).
Faring even better for daughter fertility is Peak Mauney who now ranks ninth, with a PLI of £741, FI of 14.5 and a HealthyCow index of 300.
Closing the top 10 with a PLI of £737 is Plain-Knoll Renegad Trooper, a new graduate who has the highest Type Merit of the top 10 bulls, at 2.21.
Marco Winters, AHDB Head of Animal Genetics, said: “It is always gratifying to see so many bulls standing firm in these daughter-proven rankings, reaffirming producers’ breeding choices, often made when these were young, genomic sires.
“Captain, for instance, made his debut at the top of the £PLI rankings in the UK as a young sire in early 2020 and now that he’s proven, with thousands of milking daughters, he confirms this early promise.”