JERSEYGENOME™ BREEDS SUCCESS

The two Joint Venture genetic programmes JerseyGenome™ and Jersey Genes™ between Jersey New Zealand and CRV AmBreed Ltd are stacking success on success to bring elite Jersey sires to the market.

Established in 2008, JerseyGenome™ was created with extensive goals for the breeder, partners and ultimately the Jersey breed in New Zealand. 42% of the shortlisted young bull candidates for the 2012 Jersey Genes™ team are products of the JerseyGenome™ programme.

Three years on and these goals are not only being met but are showing the potential to surpass expectations of the success anticipated for this programme.

The JerseyGenome™ scheme is structured to create wider opportunities for the breed, breeders behind the scheme and, ultimately, Jersey Genes™.

The first crop of JerseyGenome™ bred bull calves have filtered through as nominations for the 2012 Jersey Genes™ team, adding a new dimension to the selection process.

Internationally recognised, Jersey Genes™ is a joint venture success story, supplying 26 proven Jersey bulls over a period of 19 years, making it one of the country’s most successful young sire testing programmes. Currently the scheme boasts three sires – Canaan Nevvy Pioneer, Pukeroa TGM Manzello and Okura Manhatten ET SJ3 in the top 30 Jersey bull list (10% of the ranked graduates) and two (Pioneer and Manzello) in the top 30 All Breeds list (as at 12th November 2011). The most recognised of these sires, Okura Manhatten ET SJ3, has been exported to over nine countries and has sired over 32,500 daughters in New Zealand.

In total, 150 bull nominations were received in consideration for the Jersey Genes™ 2012 bull team. 17% of nominations originated from the JerseyGenome™scheme and 12 bulls have been selected to advance to the  genomic testing phase. Five of the shortlist originates from JerseyGenome™ with the balance stemming directly via nominations from the Jersey New Zealand membership.

Subsequent to the Jersey Genes™ selection process, 26 of the remaining 138 nominations have been picked up by CRV AmBreed for their own PT scheme, including an additional five from the JerseyGenome™ programme.

CRV Marketing Manager, Peter Berney, is unsurprised by the success of the Joint Venture programmes. “The combination of CRV AmBreed’s expertise and technical capabilities with the passion, experience and commitment of Jersey New Zealand members was always going to be a good one,” he says. “The fact that these programmes are significantly represented, not only in our young Jersey teams but in our proven products, is a testament to the success of the JerseyGenome™ and Jersey Genes™ programmes.”

With such pleasing results so early in the creation of the JerseyGenome™ programme, the future for the Jersey breed looks positive.