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BY DESIGN… NOT CHANCE

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A FOCUS ON SIRE FERTILITY: DETAILS MAKE THE DIFFERENCEWhat factors contribute to the industry leading fertility of the semen sold by World Wide Sires? A combination of time-tested procedures, cutting-edge technology, and the best employees in the business all culminate in our success!

TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCT SUPPORT For more than 50 years, we have utilized the most up-to-date technology to ensure exceptional semen quality and fertility. Our Semen Quality Control Program relies upon a team of expertly trained technicians to evaluate every sample for multiple characteristics. Only samples meeting our strict standards are offered for sale. Specialized assessments and equipment, such as flow cytometric assays and computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA), are used to examine all samples. Combined with proprietary semen extender formulations and innovative processing and freezing procedures, our semen fertility consistently leads the industry in national and regional sire fertility evaluations.

Supporting our product doesn’t end after the point of sale. WWS invests in a support network to make sure customers have the greatest likelihood of receiving a genetically valuable calf from each unit of semen. This support may come from a sales representative well versed in genomics and the most effective synchronization protocols, to advanced consulting by staff Reproductive or Herd Management Specialists.

SIRE NUTRITION AND HEALTH We understand that bulls must be healthy and well-managed to produce large quantities of semen. The nutrition and disease management of our bulls is comprehensive and individualized for each animal. Bulls arrive to our rearing facilities at younger ages than ever, ensuring they receive optimal nutrition and management from calfhood. Nutritional rations are optimized for stage of life, desired growth, and to maintain an appropriate body condition. We know cattle can be highly sensitive to feed contaminants such as mycotoxins, so we utilize proprietary formulations of direct-fed microbials as one example of safeguarding digestive health.

Bull health and disease prevention starts at birth by partnering with trustworthy facilities that generate our calves. Animals arrive to our state-of-the art calf-rearing facilities and receive care from our expert team of technicians and veterinarians. Prior to entering the resident herd of semen producing bulls, calves must pass extensive Certified Semen Services (CSS) health testing protocols to verify semen will be disease-free. Throughout their life, bulls will continue to receive semi-annual health testing that surpasses minimum CSS requirements. When exporting semen, we work diligently with government officials of each respective country to meet necessary health requirements for semen import.

What is the importance of sire fertility to your breeding program?

Sire fertility is extremely important to us at Horsens Homestead Farm. We invest a significant amount of time and resources into getting a cow ready to breed. At breeding time we need to know and trust that the bull used on each cow delivers viable, fertile semen. The Select Sires lineup of bulls makes it easy for dairy producers to find high genetic bulls with superior fertility.

How do you use Sire Conception Rate (SCR) when selecting sires for your herd?

We monitor SCR closely. As a young sire starts to get SCR data we determine if he is still acceptable to use in our herd. The Select Sires lineup is so competitive that we are able to judge bulls quite strictly on the fertility of their semen. Also, we are careful to use only the highest SCR bulls in our tank on cows or heifers that have proven hard to breed.

In a competitive dairy economy, we find tremendous value in monitoring the fertility of the bulls in our mating program.

Why is Select Sires your choice for high fertility sires?

Thankfully, Select Sires has a terrific reputation for selling semen with the upmost quality. As a farmer, I can trust that a young sire will only be released once his semen passes the most thorough of quality controls. As Jeff Ziegler at Select Sires Inc. told me while discussing sire acquisition, “A good DPR will get a bull in the door, but it takes a good SCR for him to stay.”

We are glad Select Sires takes SCR so seriously, so that we know we aren’t sacrificing fertility when using the high genetic bulls we like for our herd.

HORSENS HOMESTEAD FARM• Located in Cecil, Wisconsin and owned by Jeff, Connie,

Curtis and Ryan Horsens

• Milking 600 registered Holsteins

• 16,818 kg Rolling Herd Average and 74,000 SCC in 2018

• Goal is to breed high performance cows

• Select for high combined fat and protein, and fitness traits (DPR, SCS)

By Mel DeJarnette, Vice President, Research and Quality Control at Select Sires Inc. and Bo Harstine, Director of Research at Select Sires Inc.

SIRE COMFORT AND WELFARE We are proud to house and market many of the most genetically elite bulls in the industry. Daily care involves individual animal monitoring, regular cleaning and bedding of stalls, hoof trimming, and interaction with caretakers. Stall design, bedding type, and ventilation are all important considerations. Many barns are air conditioned to maintain sire comfort and optimum semen production during hot periods of the year.

In a commitment to animal wellbeing, all facilities undergo regular Validus certification assessments. Validus is an independent company that conducts on-farm animal welfare audits. We are proud to meet the standards necessary to maintain Validus certification, as this requires considerable investment into facilities that maximize bull comfort and health, as well as employee safety.

SELECTING THE BEST The above factors would not matter if WWS did not have the genetic offerings dairy and beef producers wanted to purchase. Not only have our sire analysts done an incredible job of stacking the genetic rankings with stud 7 (Select Sires), 14 (Accelerated Genetics), and 250 (GenerVations) bulls, but they have also worked closely with the production team to cull bulls that appear destined for subpar fertility. These behind-the-scenes decisions immeasurably benefit producers who buy semen from our bulls.

EMPLOYEE DEDICATION The factors listed above would not equate to success without the dedicated employees standing behind our product. Processes and procedures need people to carry them out successfully. From the barn staff and veterinarians caring for and collecting bulls, to the semen processing and quality control staff ensuring optimum quality of saleable inventory, to shipping and packaging personnel preparing tanks for shipment, to the sales representatives and technicians delivering the package and service: conscientious and dedicated employees with a genuine focus and passion for our customers’ success are truly the source of our secret ingredient. No question, nothing is more important than our people to our fertility success!

“Our semen fertility consistently leads the industry in national

and regional sire fertility evaluations.”

Mel DeJarnette, Vice President, Research and Quality Control at Select Sires Inc.

Conscientious and dedicated employees with a genuine focus and passion for our customers’ success

are truly the source of our secret ingredient.

Curtis Horsens pictured with S-S-I HOR 10973 3222-ET, sister to 7HO13840 EZRA.

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SELECTING FOR PROFIT LARSON ACRES• Located in Evansville, Wisconsin

• Owned and operated by the Larson family

• Milking 2,500 Holsteins, three times a day

• Energy corrected milk per day is 43 kg. Average 4.4% fat and 3.26% protein.

• Current bulls in stud: 14HO14327 NERD, 7HO14422 KALEB 7HO14523 AROS

One could argue that data has become the most important factor of dairy farming today. In this era of increased technology and automation, there are many resources available and information is at our fingertips. Data allows us to make more informed decisions.

So when it comes to deciding which sires to use on your herd, why not enlist one of the most powerful selection tools available? Enter CLARIFIED® Plus, which allows dairy farmers to make decisions based on cow and calf health information that will impact future herd health, performance and profitability.

Mike Larson, of Larson Acres in Evansville, Wisconsin, heavily relies on the CLARIFIED Plus Dairy Wellness Profit Index® (DWP$®) and has built it into his breeding strategy. Read on to learn more about DWP$ and how it is used at Larson Acres.

Why do you use DWP$ as a selection tool? We have been using it long enough to see lifetime economic results. We have seen firsthand that our top percentage of DWP$ cows stayed around longer, had more calves, less health issues and made us more money than the bottom percentage of our herd did.

It has proven that the higher DWP$ animals are going to make me more money during their lifetime.

What gave you the confidence to start using DWP$? When Enlight™ (an online genetic management tool) came out with CLARIFIED Plus (a dairy genetic evaluation designed for cow and calf wellness traits), we were doing a lot of work with Zoetis. A lot of information from our herd through the years was upgraded, so before we even used DWP$ for sire selection we could see firsthand that it would work for our herd.

We didn’t have this tool or information when we previously used a particular sire in our herd, but then looking backwards, the results were confirmed. We didn’t necessarily cull or pick from DWP$ because it wasn’t available yet, but looking back at two year olds once we got the CLARIFIED Plus results, I could look at my own numbers and see how many fewer cases of mastitis the animals in the top percentage of my herd had.

When I saw some groups performing better than others, I looked at the genetics that were involved. Without even selecting for anything, just real results after the fact, divided up into different quadrants, I could see that the data was accurate. I could see that CLARIFIED Plus really worked in my herd. It wasn’t just some marketing ploy with pretty pictures.

I could look at my herd in whatever subset, mastitis, lameness, stillbirth, etc., and see that there was a correlation between the higher value genetics in our herd and the genetic predictions from CLARIFIED Plus.

How do you use DWP$ in your breeding decisions? DWP$ is the single most important value we look at in our sire selection process.

Once we get a group of sires we may narrow it down a little bit more. If there are sires with similar DWP$, for tiebreakers I’ll use combined fat and protein pounds.

The sires we work with need to be over 1000 DWP$, the higher the better. There are enough great Select Sires bulls to pick from over 1000, so it would have to be a special circumstance to use very many with scores less than that.

Why did you transition from using other selection tools like TPI or NM$ to DWP$? I thought it had the most correlation to profit. We now have a larger percentage of our herd in their second and third lactation. A few years ago, 45 percent of my herd was made up of two year olds and currently we’re at 37 percent. I’m sure DWP$ has played a part in that. We are able to keep cows around longer.

Also with the genomic information we have, and especially the DWP$ numbers, I’m not as reluctant to sell heifers. We really use it to help manage our heifer inventory so we don’t feel like we need to calve them all out. Before, I didn’t want to sell a lot of heifers because I wasn’t sure which ones were going to be the good ones or the bad ones. Parent average wasn’t good enough. Now that every animal has a DWP$ number, we can manage our heifer inventory and use the information to sell the animals we want to sell.

How does DWP$ influence your management decisions? As mentioned, we will sell excess heifers using this information. We do so at about three to four months of age, before we invest more money into them. I don’t want to invest money into animals that are not going to greatly improve the genetics of my herd.

We will also use DWP$ to decide who gets sexed semen and who is going to be used as a recipient.

We use that one number [DWP$] for many, many things. It’s used for our starting point. We may look at more specifics on individual animals for certain reasons, but everything is sorted and ranked by DWP$.

For our cows, we use DWP$ to decide which first lactation cows we will use sexed semen on. We use cow conception rate to make that decision as well. First breeding, first lactation cows in the top half of our DWP$ and cow conception rate numbers are eligible for sexed semen. We’ve been able to maintain a 52 percent conception rate with sexed semen on milk cows doing this.

When it comes to your source for DWP$ sires, what can Select Sires offer you that other studs can’t? They agree with me that DWP$ is important, and every bull is advertised with a DWP$ value, so I can find that information. Plus they have anything that I may want.

We really appreciate the well roundedness and flexibility of their offerings; whatever we’re looking at we can find it there.

What role does Select Sires play in the success of your breeding program? I consider Select Sires to be a team member. They have individuals that sit down with me that really have Larson Acres’ goals in mind, and help us make decisions that are right for our herd.

WHAT IS DWP$? DWP$ is a multi-trait selection index which encompasses the various elements of profitability including: production, fertility, type, longevity and cow and calf wellness traits. Selection for DWP$ can result in a difference of lifetime profit of more than $1,300 between the top 10th percentile and the bottom 10th percentile of ranked animals in females. Developed by Zoetis, this index was reviewed by Select Sires geneticists and reflects the input and knowledge of a team of industry experts. DWP$ utilizes data collected from millions of health records within U.S. commercial Holstein herds.

Cow Wellness traits: mastitis, lameness, metritis, retained placenta, displaced abomasum and ketosis Calf Wellness traits: calf livability, respiratory disease and scours

Cow Wellness25%

Health, Longevity & Calving19%

Calf Wellness

8%

Repro.6%

Type10%

Production32%

DWP$ Relative Value

Mike Larson, General Manager of Larson Acres.Photo by Kelli Boylen for Progressive Dairyman

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Jedi, Montross, Supersire, Mogul, Planet, Blitz, O Man, Blackstar, Mark, Bell, ElevationPhotos by Han Hopman, Frank Robinson and Jack Remsberg

BY DESIGN… NOT CHANCEExperience the Difference.

Bringing you the best ofNORTH AMERICAN GENETICSGENERATION AFTER GENERATION

SUPPLIER OF MORE INFLUENTIAL BULLS THAN ANY OTHER STUD

PRODUCT FROM MORE THAN

850 BULLSAVAILABLE

45 + YEARSOF INTERNATIONAL

MARKETING EXPERIENCE

21 MILLION DOSESSOLD IN

90 + COUNTRIES

CREATING NEXT-LEVEL GENETICS SUSTAINABILITY STARTS WITH GENETICS

To elevate your herd, it’s important to fully understand where you are today. Before establishing new goals and objectives to improve profitability, working with your World Wide Sires representative to perform a herd genetic audit is a must. In addition to understanding the genetic level of your herd, you should also know where the current male population stands, how much directional change can be expected annually, and what risks and rewards are involved in utilizing young sires versus proven bulls. This helps us realistically evaluate anticipated results.

As you are discovering what kinds of bulls are needed to improve your herd, we are creating them. Sire development requires industry insight, vision and a little bit of chance. Progressive dairy farmers around the world drive our work, and their needs inspire the profitable genetics we create.

In the more than 50 years that Select Sires has been the genetic leader, the needs and profit generators of dairy farmers have changed and continue to evolve. With every genetic advancement, we aim to serve as a catalyst. We incite change and work with our customers to take their herds to the next level.

Generating new profit opportunities requires adaptability. As our team has quickly adapted to new technologies and programs, there

has been a shift in focus. We are incorporating health, wellness and casein testing into our selection criteria as we build the World Wide Sires genetic portfolio.

It is not just about creating cows that live longer; we want cows that live long, healthy, sound reproductive lives, minimizing the need for human intervention. World Wide Sires genetics deliver profitable cattle that easily do their job, going unnoticed. We strive to create “invisible cows.”

Another dynamic shift in today’s World Wide Sires genetic offering is the broad range of options. We realize dairy farmers have unique ideas that we must provide genetic solutions for. As customized indexes are becoming more prevalent, we are expanding the array of traits that World Wide Sires excels in to support this customized selection approach.

Looking at Productive Life, Daughter Pregnancy Rate, and Somatic Cell Score in the ways one used to look at pounds of Milk, Fat and Protein, is one way to make positive changes. These low heritability traits have real monetary value tied to them that genetics can capture.

Additionally, the genomic young sire portfolio continues to grow, again with genetic variation in mind. Medium body size, high components, outstanding health traits with calving ease, preferred casein results and outstanding reproductive performance – these are the attributes of World Wide Sires genomic young sires. Achieving these needs all while creating variation in the bloodlines of our young sire pedigrees is a task we take seriously. Our goal is to slow inbreeding depression without sacrificing genetic gain.

Ultimately, we work to develop genetics that help dairy farmers to be successful in any system, with every breeding goal and milk marketing strategy. We are committed to creating the most profitable genetics, utilizing science, technology, quality on-farm data and good cow sense.

Globally, dairy farmers share a common goal – to milk cows that are efficient converters of feed into milk solids. The ability of dairy cows to use feed to produce higher quantities of milk starts with genetics.

A few years ago it was common to talk to farmers who, wanting to increase milk production, simply added to the size of their herds. Now in many countries around the world, that strategy is changing, and the conversation is moving towards producing more with less – fewer cows and limited environmental resources. More farmers are concerned about the number of cows on their farms, and are working towards growing milk production by increasing production per cow, instead of expanding the herd.

I have two dairy farms in Oregon that have been under government environmental supervision since 1985. We, as dairy farmers, deal with a lot of issues in order to manage our cows and be good stewards of the environment. Farmers generally do not want to do one at the expense of the other, so we are constantly seeking new approaches to achieve a balance between running a successful operation and leaving the smallest environmental impact.

Genomics has been the most positive tool we have had at our disposal in the last 15 years in the dairy industry, as it has allowed us to increase the rate of genetic progress in producing more feed efficient cows. Today we have bulls developed from multiple generations of genomic breeding that are light years ahead of where we were 15 years ago.

The genetics program at World Wide Sires is focused on creating cows that are moderately sized and do not require as much energy for maintenance, so they can put most of their energy into producing more kilograms of milk solids. We are developing genetics that create efficient, healthy cows, that breed back quickly and live for many lactations.

Animals with this ability provide a new range of options for farmers, which benefit the environment, the land, the animals and their lifestyles.

Source: World Resources Institute https://bit.ly/2AS6fOY

By Jeff Ziegler, Vice President of Dairy Cattle Breeding at Select Sires Inc.

Editorial by Scott Ruby, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at World Wide Sires

Select Sires Dairy Sire Team:Mark Kerndt, Jeff Ziegler, Rick Verbeek, Kevin Jorgensen, Chuck Sattler, Jordan Siemers

“With every genetic advancement, Select Sires aims to serve as a

catalyst. We incite change and work with our customers to take their herds

to the next level.” Jeff Ziegler, Vice President of Dairy Cattle Breeding at Select Sires Inc.

IN A GROWING WORLD, WE ARE CHALLENGED TO MAKE MORE WITH LESS.

WE NEED TO FEED MORE PEOPLE…

WE WILL NEED

56%more food

TO FEED NEARLY

10billion people

in 2050

We will need to feed more people without using more land. We currently use 50% of the world’s vegetated land for agriculture.

There is a 593 million hectare land gap between global agricultural land area in 2010 and expected agricultural expansion by 2050.

faster increase in the output of meat & milk per hectare of pasture between 2010 and 2050 could close the land gap by 20% and the greenhouse gases mitigation gap by 11%.

25%

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EXPERIENCE THE DIFFERENCE: OUR CUSTOMERS SAY IT BEST

What is different about working with WWS vs. other companies? Some other breeding companies offer the service of coming to your farm and bombarding you with criticism but they don’t give you the support, direction or honesty afterwards. I think that has been the major difference and the reason why we have created a great relationship with WWS.

I really appreciate the honest justified advice we have been given. But furthermore, the focus and support we have been given has been what has delivered the results.

How has the WWS Global Dairy Solutions team brought value to your business? The training has given us a lot better understanding of our data, what to look at, focus on and what it means to our business and profit line. We know where we are and where we want to be heading, which has given us great direction.

What results have you seen since working with WWS?As a result of the ongoing support and initial direction from Kevin [Director of Field Training] and Scott [Director of Technical Services],

we have targeted key areas and we are working through the others as time goes on. Initially on the reproduction side of things, Kevin advised us to push out the voluntary waiting period from 42 days with a timed AI 69-75 days post calving. The main justification for this was our poor conception to first service… Our conception for first service has gone from 23 percent to 31 percent and is rising.

Scott got us focusing on our transition cow management. More care is now taken to reduce the pressure in the calving group and a great deal more attention has been paid to their comfort and intakes. Simple things like drenching fresh cows with our homemade drench, foot bathing dry cows regularly to eliminate any lameness at calving, and working really hard on cow comfort in the cubicle shed, have helped make the change. The results are there – the average peak yields have gone from 46 liters to 51.1 liters, and dry matter intakes have gone from 24kg per head to 28 kg per head.

Being able to see the results that these practical changes have made, through the improvement in the figures, has reassured us we are on the right track.

Which WWS service has brought value to your business and how? WWS brings value to my business in three ways:

• First, the proven bulls. My farm is a conventional farm with focus on milk production and economics. I like to use proven bulls like SUPERSIRE, BREWMASTER and REFLECTOR because I know that they are very high quality and will reach my goals.

• Second, I work together with my WWS Deutschland sales rep, Thomas Bloemer, and the World Wide Mating Service to find the right bulls for every cow. Thomas also provides us with an ultrasound pregnancy check service.

• Third, Matthias Deisting advises me in economic data, like heat detection [rate], conception rate, pregnancy rate, etc. so our farm gains more efficiency.

What is different about working with WWS vs. other companies? The bulls that WWS Deutschland can offer me, and the excellent service I receive from Thomas and Matthias, is what makes WWS different from other companies. I like to hear their standpoints, knowledge, and results of the evaluations they make with the SRS [Select Reproductive Solutions] System, to help me make changes on my farm and reach my goals.

What results have you seen since working with WWS?I have some really good cows from WWS bulls that correspond to my idea of a good, powerful cow. Since working with Thomas and Matthias, I see the bottlenecks on my farm, and they gave me good ideas to change them.

What results have you seen since working with WWS?Easy births [resulting in a 4% stillbirth rate] and easy ‘working cows;’ this results in smoother and more frequent robot visits with the immediate result of higher production!

Problem cows demand a lot of attention. WWS helps us, through breeding with DWP$, to adjust our transition management and reduce the number of problem cows.

How has the World Wide Mating Service brought value to your business? Scoring the heifers by a WWS inspector provides optimal breeding advice.

ROBERT PROCTOR R Paterson, The Grange – 500 cows Shipdham, Norfolk, United Kingdom

BERND LÖSING Lösing Milch KG – 180 cows Vreden, Germany

JOS VAN DEN HOUTE Potaerdehoeve – 130 cows Brussegem, Belgium

Robert and Ken Proctor manage a 500-cow dairy in the UK.

Global Dairy Solutions Management Consultant Matthias Deisting and WWS customer Bernd Lösing.

Thomas Bloemer performing an ultrasound pregnancy check.

Kathleen Laureys, Jos Van den Houte and their children. Jos Van den Houte consulting with WMS Mating Advisor and Breeding Specialist Eddy Tierens.

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WORLD WIDE SIRES, LTD.®

www.wwsires.com • Email: info@wwsires.com • Fax: 559.741.28285545 Avenida de los Robles • Visalia, CA 93291 U.S.A. • Tel: 559.622.2222

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USAWORLD WIDE SIRES, LTD.®

www.wwsires.com • Email: info@wwsires.com • Fax: 559.741.28285545 Avenida de los Robles • Visalia, CA 93291 U.S.A. • Tel: 559.622.2222

BY DESIGN… NOT CHANCE