Bishop Family, breeders of ‘Planet,’ gets special recognition |
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| Hundreds of people attended the meeting at Shady Maple Smorgasbord to eat well, hear about the progress of their cooperative and learn about the latest in bovine genetics. |
EAST EARL, Pa. -- Dairymen and their families came in droves to the local Select Sire Power meeting that was held here on January 15th. They filled the Shady Maple banquet facility to capacity, eating well and hearing the latest results from their A.I. cooperative. While the crowd set an attendance record, Select Sire Power posted a record business year in 2012 for units, total sales, and members served by the cooperative.
Select Sire Power is the representative for Select Sires in the sales area from Maine to Florida and sold over 1.3 million units of semen in that region in 2012, a new high. Select Sire Power General Manager Norm Vincel spoke at the meeting and mentioned customer-focused programs as being the key for the growth.
“We have invested in programs focused squarely on increasing the profitability of our members. The profit we make is all returned and retained by the member, so we can continue to implement programs that meet the needs of our customers.”
Vincel also mentioned the independent groups that reinforce the job that Select Sires is doing for its membership. “Dairy Herd magazine did some research and found that Select Sires far exceeds all competitors when it comes to trust and product available. Ten percent of all dairy semen customers use Select Sires exclusively for their product and that number is growing. We also have invested a lot in the fertility of our product, which goes right to the customer’s bottom line in less repeats, and fewer days open. Some of our competitors didn’t like the results they were seeing and dropped out of the independent Sire Conception Rating (SCR) appraisal. We feel that information is important to our customers to make informed decisions.”
Another presenter at the meetings was Charlie Will, sire procurement manager for Select Sires. His presentation focused on the efforts that Select Sires is making to offer the top sires in the industry to the customers of the cooperative.
“It is a different environment than just a few years ago,” Will explained. “Select Sires has strengthened relationships with key farms and has purchased some females to ensure that the sires that the Select Sires customer can benefit from are available for use.” Feed Pro sires, sires specially presented for feed efficiency, were pointed to as one of the new sire groupings that has been popular with the customer.
The Shady Maple meeting wrapped up with a presentation to the Bishop Family of Ensenada Farms in Doylestown, Pa., breeders of Ensenada Taboo Planet-ET. He has become one of the most influential sires in Holstein history. Rick VerBeek, the Select Sires sire analyst who purchased Planet, presented the Bishops with a model of him.
“Planet has been one of the most popular bulls that I can remember and the fact that he was born and bred in Pennsylvania makes it all the better,” commented Select Sire Power’s Kirk Sattazahn.
To date, 851,803 units have been sold around the world with the key countries of use after the United States being Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Germany.
His greatest impact is probably still ahead of him, according to Sattazahn. “Dairymen recognize his daughters for their willingness to milk along with great udders but it will be his sons that continue to spread his influence. Many of the top genomic sires available around the world today have Planet in their pedigree. Since Planet himself was an outcross sire at the time of his introduction, his popularity has helped to introduce new genes into the Holstein population,” Sattazahn explained.