Early notice of breeding worth changes for 2019
New Zealand Animal Evaluation (NZAEL) has recently finalised the economic values that will be used to calculate Breeding Worth from February next year. This update reflects changes on the world market where there has been a significant increase in the value of fat and a decrease in the value of protein. The good news is that the high value of milk fat is delivering a strong milk price for the 2018/19 season.
This means a shift in Breeding Worth (BW) for most AE-enrolled sires, with high milk fat sires rising to the top of the BW rankings. In light of this, BW19 has been published early for all AE-enrolled sires to give you advance insights into which bulls can add the most value to your breeding programme.
Of the top 200 bulls on BW2019 70% are Jersey, 25% Cross-Breed and 5% Holstein-Friesian. On average, Jersey bulls are increasing by $23 BW while Holstein-Friesian decrease by $28 BW. Cross-bred and Ayrshire bulls are relatively unchanged (-$4 and -$3 BW). Within breeds, individual bulls will shift up or down by as much as $40 BW relative to their breed average.
Calves born in Spring 2019 will have the new BW19 values and if current fat prices are maintained, the shift in favour of high fat bulls will continue next year.
What does this mean for you?
- Breeding high BW cows is vital for farm profit, so given these shifts in BW, you need to be thinking about breed choice as well as individual bulls.
- Visit the DairyNZ bull team builder at dairynz.co.nz/bullteam to check if the bulls you’ve ordered for this season are changing rank.
- Many of you use set bull teams (e.g. Premier sires) – the breeding companies are aware of these changes and are responding accordingly. Talk to your breeding company to see if the product you have ordered is still meeting your needs.
Visit dairynz.co.nz/ev for more details.
Sourced via DairyNZ Newsletter