Genetics go under the hammer

TOP GENETICS will once again be on offer at International Dairy Week at the World Wide Sires Evolution Sale.

Taking place on Tuesday, January 23, the evening sale will see genetics from across the country go under the hammer, including high ranking heifers from Toolamba’s Vala Holsteins.

Owned by Alex Arena, the previous owner of Coomboona Dairies, the company will offer a number of heifers bred from high quality bloodlines.

Vala Holsteins livestock and marketing managers Angela and Steven Varcoe said sharing quality genetics with the industry, and particularly younger breeders, had been a focus.

Vala Lucky Sheen-ET-P, daughter of Coomboona Salt Sheed and great-granddaughter of Coomboona Enforcer Sheen, will be on offer at the sale. The heifer has registered a Balance Performance Index (BPI) of 193.

Heifers Vala Crush Hailee-ET and Vala Crush Hailo-ET will go under the hammer in the pick-of-the-pair portion of the sale.

Ms Varcoe said the heifers had registered some quality results thanks to their lineage. Vala Crosh Hailee-ET, offspring of Coomboona Brokaw Hailstorm-Imp-ET and grand-dam Cowtown Hailstorm-ET, has registered BPI of 146.

The Coomboona bloodline also runs strong in Vala Crush Hailo-ET, who registered a BPI of 170 and is the offspring of dam Coomboona Brokaw Hailstorm-Imp-ET and grand-dam Cowtown Hailstorm-ET.

The Evolution sale made history two years ago when then two-month-old calf Lightning Ridge-CMD Jedi Gigi-Imp-ET sold for a record breaking $251 000.

The calf, which was bred from embryos sourced from North America, was bought by American genetics company Sexing Technologies.

Prior to the auction, the highest price paid for a dairy cow in Australia was $112 000 in 2015, an amount that set an Australasian record.