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Herdlife Builder™: For Long Term Profitability Herdlife Builder(TM) Logo


Improving longevity can lead to improved profitability. Herds made up of longer-lasting cows have more cows milking during their peak production ages and require fewer replacements. USDA’s PTA for Productive Life (PL) has proven to be a useful tool but it still takes a long time for these values to reach high reliability. Type traits can serve as valuable indicators of longevity and in addition can be used to a select a more consistent and uniform herd.

The Herdlife Builder designation was introduced in 2003 and has served as a useful indicator of sires with the combination of type traits that lead to improved longevity in large, commercial herds. With an expanding database of PL information, Select Sires has revised the criteria used to determine Herdlife Builder sires. The revision was made after listening to customers who requested that we help them make cows that last longer in larger, commercial confinement operations.

To determine the new criteria, we assembled a database of 1,000 sires that most recently achieved high reliability PL values. This database was then analyzed to identify the combination of type traits that are most related to longevity. This analysis was used to develop an index that selects for bulls with shallow udder depth, high feet and legs score and lower dairy form. In addition, the index includes stature, rump angle and rear teat placement so that we can avoid breeding cows that are too big, have rear teats that are too close or have high pins. Sires that rank highest for this index and are not in the top third of active- A.I. sires for stature will receive the Herdlife Builder designation. Searching out bulls with this designation will help producers focus on those bulls that sire type traits that lead to long-lasting cows.

Holstein sires carrying the Herdlife Builder designation are chosen based on a composite of type traits that are predictive of productive life with the following relative weights:

  • 33% Udder Depth
  • -33% Stature
  • 13% Feet and Legs Score
  • -7% Rear Teat Placement
  • 7% Dairy Form
  • Bulls in the top third for stature among active-A.I. sires do not qualify (=2.04 for August 2009)
  • Bulls need to have PTA PL > 0.

As indicated in the following table, Herdlife Builders, on average, out-perform average active-A.I. Holsteins for Productive Life and Udder Composite, while offering moderate stature.

  Productive Life Udder Composite Stature
Herdlife Builders Average +2.7 +2.16 +0.95
Active-A.I. Average +1.6 +1.67 +1.46


August 2009 Holstein Herdlife Builders

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Name Milk NM$ PL PTAT UDC FLC
7HO6417 O MAN    1101 779 6.5 0.78 0.63 1.58
7HO6758 MR SAM   535 345 1.8 2.39 2.25 2.46
7HO6759 MORGAN   763 454 2.6 1.87 2.02 1.74
7HO7043 DISON    1440 458 3.8 1.15 1.76 0.92
7HO7173 ROLEX    951 356 1.3 1.55 1.60 1.74
7HO7463 PONTIAC   411 288 3.3 2.90 3.57 2.91
7HO7560 BLITZ JINTX    2406 414 2.1 1.40 1.88 1.63
7HO7839 PLUS   925 404 2.6 1.96 2.00 2.83
7HO8039 APACHE    748 183 1.8 2.25 2.00 2.69
507HO8094 SCOTTIE   1485 376 1.8 1.91 2.00 2.28
7HO8165 MILLION     1271 525 3.0 3.32 3.30 2.33
7HO8223 LAWN BOY P-RED   340 408 5.1 2.19 2.61 2.06
7HO8291 ARROW-RED    422 347 2.2 1.16 1.88 0.62
7HO8351 LUCIUS     959 332 3.0 2.01 2.73 2.83
7HO8411 EVEREADY   523 215 0.4 3.14 3.34 3.34
7HO8530 AUTUMN      724 518 2.0 1.54 1.64 3.04
7HO8534 PENNY     934 467 3.3 0.74 1.20 2.86
7HO8625 BUTCH    1197 574 2.7 1.02 1.71 2.00
7HO8715 OFFICER     362 519 3.8 1.82 1.57 1.70
7HO8777 GENERAL   1026 310 1.4 3.19 3.43 1.84
= New Active Sire for August 2009
= Eligible for semen export to Canada
= Superior Settler Designation
= gender SELECTed™ Sire
= HealthMark™ Sire
  = FeedPRO™ Sire


Herdlife Builder status for Jersey sires is based on the following criteria:
  • Top 50% for JUI (JUI = 4.18)
  • Top 50% for Foot Angle (PTA Foot Angle = 0.5)
  • Not among the top 20% for Dairy Form (PTA Dairy Form < 1.8)
  • Above breed average for PL (PTA PL > 0)

August 2009 Jersey Herdlife Builders
Name Milk NM$ PL PTAT UDC
7JE590 ACTION     493 304 3.7 2.60 8.10
7JE667 JACINTO     408 231 2.3 1.5 5.10
7JE679 RAY    521 233 1.3 1.4 5.19
7JE762 FANTOM    460 417 5.9 1.8 7.40
7JE778 HARVEST     483 159 0.2 1.7 5.90
7JE791 FANFARE   1266 347 1.8 1.6 5.01
7JE808 AVENUE   372 301 2.1 1.7 6.51
7JE809 DUCE   209 438 3.3 1.7 4.82
7JE816 MOMENT    142 277 0.8 1.2 4.21
= New Active Sire for August 2009
= Eligible for semen export to Canada
= Superior Settler Designation
= gender SELECTed™ Sire
= HealthMark™ Sire
  = FeedPRO™ Sire



™Herdlife Builder, FeedPRO, Select Mating Service, gender SELECTed and Superior Settler are trademarks of Select Sires Inc.

To order product contact:
Select Sires Inc., 11740 U.S. 42 North, Plain City, Ohio 43064 / Phone: (614) 873-4683 Fax: (614) 873-5751