Select Sires Offers Customer-Relief Price Reductions
PLAIN CITY, Ohio, February 6, 2009 — Despite having a dominant sire summary with more Holstein bulls among the breed's Top-100 for TPI and more sires positive for fertility (Sire Conception Rate) than any other source, Select Sires lowered prices on nearly half of its active bulls for both conventional and gender SELECTed™ semen.
"Select Sires recognizes the difficult economic environment our customer-owners are experiencing with low milk prices and high input costs," said David Thorbahn, president and C.E.O. for Select Sires. "Thus, we felt we needed to help."
In addition, Select Sires' member cooperatives will be offering customer-relief discounts tailored for each of their market areas.
Elite Young Sires at a Reasonable Price
With the release of genomic data, young sires have more information available with higher reliability than ever before. Among active Holstein young sires that are priced at $20 or below, 20 of the top-25 for TPI are Select sires, including each of the top-5. "We priced our high-genomic young sires well below industry average," Thorbahn said. "We want to continue making young sires an affordable option for our customers, and while we're excited about the new genomic information, we believe the gold standard remains in progeny-tested bulls."
Fertility without Compromise
Among proven sires, Select Sires is the clear industry leader in fertility with at least a third more active sires that improve fertility than any other A.I. source. And Select Sires offers fertility without genetic compromise. "For example, when sorting sires that are greater than +2.0 SCR with a minimum of +1700 TPI, or greater than +2.00 SCR with +2.00 Type or higher, Select Sires is the leader by a long shot," Thorbahn said. "I could go on and on with examples like these, but the bottom line is while we understand that fertility is of the utmost importance to our customers, we don't sacrifice genetic merit to offer high-fertility sires. Select Sires is bigger to serve you better – we offer more choices that meet your genetic and fertility needs."
The Gold Standard
Select's industry-leading Program for Genetic Advancement™ (PGA™) is the gold standard for providing breed-leading bulls that stand the test of time. Its parentage verification, national distribution (which assures that no more than 25 percent of one sire's daughters are in any one region of the country) and use of molecular genomic technology since 1995, make PGA the most advanced and successful system for supplying the most reliable industry-leading sires in the country.
"At Select Sires, we are confident that we are doing everything we can to fulfill our mission of increasing the profitability and productivity of our customer-owners," Thorbahn said. "Now we are taking that mission a step further by offering our elite genetics and value-added services and programs at a lower cost."
Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select Sires Inc., is North America's largest A.I. organization and is comprised of 10 farmer-owned and -controlled cooperatives. As the industry leader, it provides highly fertile semen as well as excellence in service and programs to achieve its basic objective of supplying dairy and beef producers with North America's best genetics at a reasonable price.
Source: 01/09 USDA Genomic Evaluation, USDA/HA Type Evaluation and HA Type
TMTotal Performance Index and TPI are trademarks of Holstein Association USA; Program for Genetic Advancement, PGA and gender SELECTed are trademarks of Select Sires Inc.
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