Bullseye January 2014

For most Canadian dairy producers graduating O-Bee Krusader (Planet x Shottle) to the proven sire listing was practically a forgone conclusion. He was an early Genomax Elite sire who received national sampling because of his exceptional genomic indexes, and his stay on our Genomax listing was relatively long due to his interesting pedigree and again, those stellar numbers. Three years later, with milking daughters everywhere in Canada and lots of heifers in the pipeline it is easy to say that choosing to market Krusader early is generating a good return on investment to those producers who considered and accepted the added risk.

Along with his full brother Kadet, Krusader is the first proven Planet son to be added to our proof sheet. While he may not be a new sire for most Canadian producers, Krusader is a bull we can and should get excited about. With Planet as sire and a Shottle dam, this is a bull most Canadian producers can take full advantage from including in their upcoming G-Mates. After all, he carries no Goldwyn blood and in fact, is quite a complimentary mating to this bloodline. What’s more, at +15 for Conformation, he keeps company with the elite proven sires for Type in the breed. Among the top 100 LPI sires only Atwood, Lauthority and Windbrook score higher. If above average Calving Ability and Somatic Cell Score are stipulated, he stands alone among this group.

Developed from the logical mating of Planet x Shottle, Krusader is, not surprisingly, a tremendous mammary system improver. Semex Sire Analyst, Mike West has observed the Krusaders in all types of management environments and in each, his daughters follow the same pattern: “The first thing you notice is the consistency and correctness of the mammary systems; they’re very well-attached with ideal shape making them very appealing. Being shallow with good quality makes these some of the best udders you see in their herds”, he continues. And while Planet sons often do not excel on Feet & Leg improvement, Krusader is an exception with his F&L rating being the highest of his major traits – exceeding even his Mammary System rating. Mike characterizes them as having “correct structure to their foot and a nice comfortable curve to the hock making them cows that everyone will enjoy.”

There are some exceptional Krusader daughters in western Canada. The cover-girl on our new proof sheet, Zimmer Krusader Ava, a VG-85 2 year old owned by Duane Zimmer, is one of several full sisters that resulted from a contract mating of Krusader on a VG Bolton from an EX-94 point full sister to Smithden Admiral. A full brother to Ava, Zimmer Apollo, was sampled by CIAQ in 2012 with numerous of his progeny already registered by Holstein Canada. Apollo’s maternal brother, Bud Light, sired by Brawler, is a bull WestGen previously marketed as a Genomax Elite sire. In total, Semex has four Krusader sons that have already been progeny tested a testament to how highly regarded he has been from the beginning by Semex. It is also yet another indication of how the generation intervals have been shortened by genomics.

We also contacted Anton Borst at his Halarda Farms office in Elm Creek, MB to ask him about his Krusader daughters. A quick check on his DairyComp and he informs that he has 43 daughters in total – ranging from young calves all the way to milking age – with 10 milking daughters already classified. Among those ten, eight achieved scores of 80 points or higher (including one at VG 85). Seven of those eight achieved higher 1st lactation scores than their dams – many significantly higher. “They are a very consistent bunch” observes Anton. Pressed to describe them further, he muses that they are medium to medium plus in size and frame and that they handle their production well. He confidently expresses that they are quiet heifers and that the earliest ones are breeding back well. To date Anton is very happy with his Krusaders.

It is gratifying to have bulls like Krusader confirm their early genomic Type predictions and perhaps in this case, even exceed on them. But Krusader manages to deliver exceptional Type alongside a very pleasing health trait profile. He excels on Calving Ability, his daughters display low cell counts and they are expected to breed back easily. Not surprisingly he is a Herd Life specialist too.

Krusader – all signs say go ahead and use him!