Super stardom for bull from Takahue

NO BULL: Takahue-bred Pa Hill Kings Voltage is tipped to become a household name in the dairy industry.

An Ayrshire bull bred by Takahue farmer Gavin Travers (Pa Hill Ayrshires) is tipped to become the dairy industry equivalent of the next great All Black.

Pa Hill Kings Voltage had been accorded CRV Ambreed proven sire status, sire analyst Georgie Smith said, and was set to become a household name.

Proven sire status does not come easy; it is the culmination of a rigorous four-year selection process, Voltage being one of 13 "young superstars" to have graduated, meaning he is considered to have the highest genetic merit.

CRV Ambreed's proven sires feature in the company's bull catalogue, which thousands of dairy farmers peruse every year to develop successful breeding programmes, the company saying they were sought after by dairy farmers in New Zealand and overseas, their production and performance traits make them an essential part of the success of this country's dairy industry.

"The elite bull calves selected for CRV Ambreed's breeding programme ultimately make sure dairy farmers' future herds are more productive and more profitable," Ms Smith said.

"That means Voltage had to demonstrate he could pass on to cows improvement traits that are key to productivity and profitability."

Every year CRV Ambreed's sire analysts, the company's 'All Black selectors,' visited herds around the country to find the very best farmers and the very best cows that would produce the next Richie McCaws and Daniel Carters of bulls. A visit to Pa Hill Ayrshires in 2010 led to Voltage being one of the 1275 bulls to be nominated that year for consideration for CRV Ambreed's premier progeny test programme.

"Like the All Blacks, CRV Ambreed's breeding team uses several levels of selection," Ms Smith said.

The top 600 of the 1275 bulls went through a genomic selection process, a scientific tool that identified genetic gain and limited any chance of genetic defect.

They were also assessed using the breeding team's knowledge of the cows and their families.

In the end 120 bull calves were selected for the progeny test programme and were sent to CRV Ambreed's new state of the art production and logistics centre, where their semen production was carefully managed to be used in the coming spring.

Each of the 120 progeny test bulls' semen was distributed to a number of contracted progeny test herds around the country so their daughters' performance, including milk production and type, could be measured in a range of environments.

The breeding team relied heavily on the farmers it contracted with to provide records and information on daughter conformation scores, that information forming CRV Ambreed's 'black box of breeding', the animal evaluation system.

"In the end only 13 of the 120 bull calves selected for the progeny test programme graduate, the absolute cream of the crop that will provide the highest genetic gain for dairy farmers," Ms Smith said.

"Voltage's daughters have good somatics and good temperament. He is a high New Zealand Merit Index bull, and is especially good for protein improvement.

"He produces animals that are an efficient size."

And he would be getting All Black treatment.

"Our graduate bulls get elevated on to a pedestal - what they need is what they get," she said.

"Voltage will live a lush lifestyle at CRV Ambreed's collection facilities (in Hamilton). He will be wrapped in cotton wool, and get extra special treatment because he is one of our star bulls."

If he turned out to be the next Firenze, one of CRV Ambreed's 'legacy bulls,' he could generate millions of dollars in revenue, produce more than half a million doses of semen for domestic and international sale, have tens of thousands of daughters and a long list of sons enrolled on the animal evaluation database for herd improvement in New Zealand.

And the breeders of the chosen bulls were entitled to take a how.

"There is a lot of pride for the breeders in producing a bull that makes it into CRV Ambreed's catalogue. It's a true testament to their breeding programme and the quality of the cows in their herds," Ms Smith said.