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#PolledPlacings POLLED Sire Feature

To view the listing of available Polled bulls from April, check out the #PolledPlacings section of the Polled Dairy Cattle website at: www.polleddairycattle.com. Watch for new information in the Sept/Oct issue of #PolledPlace!

Powerball P - The Game Changer for Polled Holsteins Imagine the biggest ball game of the year…did you place a bet?...did you play the game? Meet the “MVB” (Most Valuable Bull) of your team - Powerball P - he is the #1 GTPI Polled sire in the WORLD and is described as, “The most impactful bull the breed has ever experienced.” View-Home Powerball P is moving Polled into an entirely new ballgame! At +2476GTPI and +818NM$, these numbers are re-cord-setting for Polled. He also boasts +2.74PTAT, +1716M and +75P, also tremendous for Polled. And…he has more to offer…he is A2A2!

The Breeder Behind Powerball P Country Dairy, Inc., New Era, Michigan, is family owned and oper-ated and has been bottling their own milk since 1983. Wendell VanGunst, third generation, started farming in the 1960s with a herd of 16 cows named View Home Farms, which remains as his Holstein prefix today. In the 1990s, two of his four daughters married and their husbands started to transition into the farm operations. Wendell has recently handed the farm over to the next generation but is still very in-volved. Currently Country Dairy, Inc. has 1,400 cows that are milked in four different milking parlors. Farm tours offer an experience where you can see what it takes to get the milk from the cow to the customer. In 2004, Country Dairy, Inc. built a farm store selling all their dairy products and beef along

with a great menu includ-ing burgers, sandwiches, and pizza. Over 100 people are employed at the various enterprises under Country Dairy, Inc.

The Making of Powerball P Powerball P is an Earn-hardt P son of Pine-Tree 2149Robst 4846 VG-86-2Y, a Robust from the Wess-wood Rudy Missy EX-92 family. Powerball P’s dam was purchased at The Best

of Rudolph Mis-sy and Pine Tree Dairy Sale in November Nick Mitteer of Country Dairy shares, “We had our eye on her from the start. Knowing what the family had done with Shauna we wanted something from that family. Our goal was to get a great animal that didn’t need marketing and could do some contract free matings once the exclusivi-ty of the bulls ran out. The Steiners took the manage-

ment traits they believed in and contin-ued to have them transmit generation after generation. We wanted an animal like that! An animal like that would sell males and females with ease.” She was then moved to Duckett Holsteins where they were amazed with her IVF abilities. Mitteer adds, “We started to mow down the list of top GTPI bulls and wanted to create some different matings, so we used bulls like Goldwyn and Earnhardt P. Goldwyn was easy because we still had a couple units lying around. The Earnhardt P mating took a bit of work to convince everyone to be ok with it. The bull studs didn’t seem too inter-ested at the time and that made some of us question the decision. The ‘what if?’ thought that she could create a high one from 8 to 10 pregnancies and then have that be Polled eventually won

everyone’s imagination! He was the 1st Polled bull that really peaked our interest to dabble with Polled rather than sit on the sidelines.” This mating resulted in four bulls, three of them of which were Polled along with three horned heifers. From the moment they were born, they took every precaution knowing that one of the three Polled bulls could be the game changer! Originally, Powerball P was named Tenn after Tennessee because they started naming them after states, and then moved to capitals because there were so many coming that it was a full time job naming ET calves. “When his genomics came back we were extreme-ly pleased with his numbers. He was far above his peers and there was no looking back. We sat back and watched him go up two proofs which no one ex-pected! Day after day he became more valuable to us and to the industry. In December, we knew we had to get him moved so he could do what he was made to do, put polled on the map!” shares an excited Mitteer. Jetstream Genetics was the first stud that came and offered the val-ue they were asking for. Knowing Roger Turner and Jeff Butler would work extremely hard to make Power-ball P a household name, they moved forward with the offer. Jetstream’s elite bull list ensures that whatev-er they own will get their day in the spotlight.

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by Stephanie Stout

View-Home Powerball P

Pine-Tree 2149Robst 4846 VG-86-2Yof 2011.

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#PolledPlacings POLLED Sire Feature

About Jetstream Genetics Jetstream Genetics LLC was estab-lished in 2012 as a privately owned business that gives breeders the op-portunities to new markets, new lease royalty contracts and the best possibil-ities for returns. A unique aspect of Jet-stream Genetics LLC is that they do not own any bull housing or AI collection facilities. They have partnered with one of the strongest leading AI compa-nies, Alta Genetics, Inc., to utilize their experience, expertise, logistics and tal-ents to streamline their efficiencies and keep their overhead as low as possible. This has been a key point in their struc-ture delivering high quality, high fer-tility semen to the market. The clients follow high fertility closely and it is a strong predictor in enhanced business and growth. Roger Turner of Jetstream Genetics LLC adds, “We are fortunate to be connected with Alta Genetics for many aspects that they can provide ex-perience and knowledge for our com-pany.”

Why Add Polled to Jetstream Genetics? Jetstream Genetics LLC strives to provide the industry with elite genetics with herd goals in mind and improv-ing herd efficiencies. The Polled gene is an opportunity for Jetstream Genet-ics LLC to expand their marketing and opportunities with breeders that are breeding for the Polled gene as well as reaching all herds and genetic pro-grams worldwide. The industry has ex-perienced greater interest in the Polled gene in the recent years and the genetic gains within the Polled males and fe-males continue to expand and so do the marketing and sales opportunities for top end Polled sires. “We released our first Polled sire in late 2012 with Colt 45 P*RC and quickly experienced that top end Polled sires that have a com-plete lineage, attractive type, produc-tion and health traits were in very high demand and were sought after and attractive to many clients in all breed-ing programs in North America, South America, Australia, Europe and many expanding markets,” explains Turner.

Powerball P to Jetstream Genetics Powerball P went to Jetstream Genetics LLC after a contract was ne-gotiated and agreed upon with the

breeder, Country Dairy and Jeff Butler. Butler has other bulls in the Jetstream Genetics LLC program and for the past two years, they have experienced tremendous lease royalty returns that have exceeded their expectations and quickly earned them a greater return on investment, so they were easily at-tracted to have Powerball P enter into Jetstream Genetics LLC sire program. Having an extreme GTPI of +2476, Powerball P certainly stands out as a unique Polled bull and breeders do not have to give up any genetic gain. Re-gardless if he’s Polled or not, his GTPI is high for the Holstein breed and will attract all breeders alike. Not only is he the #1 Polled GTPI sire in the breed, he is also the #1 RZG Polled sire in the breed at +157. When Turner was asked what makes Powerball P unique, he shares, “He does carry an overall very attractive breakdown for type, health and production. I really feel his pro-duction traits make him very unique being +75P and +1716M. He totally has combined the overall characteristics into one unique sire. We are extremely delighted that he also carries the A2A2 milk gene which is being sought after in some markets as milk producers get paid a premium for producing A2A2 milk. I also have to mention his deep cow family that has produced numer-ous high breeding males and females that makes his lineage a household name. Timing has been in his favor with his dam sired by Robust and now scoring VG-86 as a 2-year-old and Ro-bust landing in the top position as a daughter proven sire also plays a part to the equation to make Powerball P at-tractive to all and every client.”

The Marketing of Powerball PPowerball P was an extremely well grown and mature young bull when he entered the AI facility, so with his added growth and maturity he began producing semen before he was 11 months of age (most young bulls do not produce semen until 12 months of age or older). With the industry very keen and excited about Power-ball P, Jetstream Genetics LLC want-ed to provide semen to the industry as soon as possible. “We were able to get him photographed and begin the advertising on him early for greater

gains in branding his name and elite status,” adds Turner, “With our April Sire Portfolio, he was a logical choice to be on the cover and the first sire fea-tured in our new Sire Portfolio. With that release, timing, photograph, raised classification on the dam to VG-86-2Y, everything fell into place nicely. We have aggressively been trying to reach breeders, clients, customers and agents in every corner of the world. We use all the means of promotion to expand the reach on this sire. In print, Jetstream Genetics LLC Sire Portfolio and print magazines and online, our website at www.jetstreamgenetics.com, press re-leases, banner ads on industry websites and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have all played a great part in the strategy and mar-keting plan, as well as working with our sales people and distributors who have also enhanced the coverage and promotion on Powerball P. We plan to continue the strong presence on this sire as many continue to note his high scale and attractive pedigree, dam and genomic numbers for breeding Polled and non-Polled offspring.” “Also part of our plan will be to inform clients about his early excellent fertility results in IVF programs. To date he has been receiving results that are 18-20% greater fertility results on IVF. This has greatly assisted and played a part in breeders purchasing more semen, creating more matings and continuing his use. When one can gather more fer-tility, achieve more pregnancies and therefore have a larger number of op-portunities for return, marketing, fill-ing bull and embryo contracts, it ful-fills the complete package for them and Powerball P,” Turner shares.Semen on Powerball P was first re-leased in the USA and as of June 2014, has reached into Canada where he has been greatly received and the orders and interest have been very strong since his early release. With interna-tional export regulations it takes a lit-tle longer to get a young sire into the international export facility, but he has now entered the EU international fa-cility where his semen from this point forward will qualify for all worldwide markets and semen will be exported to many international markets beginning in July 2014.

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#PolledPlacings POLLED Sire Feature

Genomics & The Future of Polled Powerball P will be a game chang-er for the Polled industry. Much credit can be given to the careful mating and marketing decisions and a solid pedi-gree, but credit also has to be given to genomics. The benefits of this tool to analyze genetics in the dairy industry are astounding. Roger Turner and Nick Mitteer share their perspectives on the impact genomics has had on the Polled industry and the future of Polled. Now is the time to PLAY the Polled game, PLAY the genomic game and a great way to start is by using the “MVB” of the industry today! Play ball!

“I certainly feel that genomics have enhanced all the breeding programs and allowed us and breeders to select better genetics with more accuracy. This will only continue to improve and enhance more and more each day. I feel confident that as genomics has impacted the breed greatly, it has also impacted the Polled gene and al-

lowed the industry to locate and select the very best, elite genetics both on the male and female side.” – Roger Turner, Jetstream Genetics LLC

“I believe genomics has advanced the Polled Holstein breed rapidly. To think of how many Polled bulls breed-ers enjoyed using two years ago versus today’s list…crazy. The industry real-ly has started to catch wind of Polled and has created some nice heifers from it. Now we wait to see if these heifers are capable of making some males. The word ‘Polled’ won’t have such a nega-tive feeling towards it in the next few years. We really hope that Powerball P will help turn more towards Polled for the same reasons we did. We were lucky enough to create Powerball P. Who’s next?” – Nick Mitteer, Country Dairy, Inc.

“I see Polled being an opportunity for all in the industry, particularly when we now can use high-end sires like

Powerball P and not give up any ge-netic gain. The genetic level of males and females with the Polled gene are climbing greatly and it will play a large part to further expand the Polled popu-lation. We certainly believe that POW-ERBALL P will play a large part in this breeding opportunity.” – Turner

“Polled is here to stay, the big ques-tion is, are there enough people trying to create that high one with PP on the end of his name? The next five years will change the Polled Holstein breed forever. Now, who’s going to be on the front end and who’s going to follow up the rear? We’ve invested in five new animals in the last year to really jump start our Polled footprint in the breed. We’re currently using Powerball P on all of them and have many confirmed pregnancies from them. We’re looking forward to helping the industry move into the polled era!” – Mitteer

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Welcome

Polled Red Pebbles

Sandman LD Pebbles P-Red-ET**2014 Promising Heifer!**

Backed by 5 gen of 30,000M & 1,000FTop 100 #PolledPlacings for Red

Due in January to Addiction P-RedFlushed as a heifer while owned with

D&D Holsteins to Long P, Cal P & Halogen

Mi-Ro-Ze Potter Pebbles-ET-RCEX-90-2E

4-07 365 34,420 3.3 1152 2.8 968

We’re excitedto add the

Polled geneto Pebbles!

Pebbles Photo Beth Herges

John & Julie Schmitz58253 360th St, Eden Valley, MN 55329

jjjjjs@meltel.net | (320) 420-2432www.manannahvalley.com

Pebbles P-Red is now owned with:Stephanie Stout

PO Box 813, Wisconsin Dells, WI 53965briardesigns@gmail.com | (608) 732-2757