Let’s take a closer look at domestic Jersey semen sales, and the key reasons that have driven 10 consecutive years over 1 million units, a 130% decade sales increase to reach a market share of 10.8%, and an unprecedented period of annual gains dating from 1994, interrupted only once by the economic downturn of 2009.

Accounting for the turn to Jersey genetics in the U.S. is not complicated. Jersey genetics perform, and nowhere is this clearer than in recent analyses of national production, reproduction and culling data by the USDA Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory.

Compared to cows of other breeds calving in 2011, Jerseys posted the largest gains over the previous year—23 lbs. fat and 19 lbs. protein per cow—to average 19,004 lbs. milk, 893 lbs. fat and 688 lbs. protein (305-day, 2x, m.e. basis). For reproduction, Jerseys had the highest first-service conception rate (41%), averaged 2.2 breedings per conception (for an overall conception rate of 37%), and had the shortest calving interval of all breeds at 396 days, 15 days shorter than Holstein. Then, in a study of the reasons cows enrolled in DHI programs exited the herd in 2012, Jerseys had the lowest cull rate among all breeds and crossbreds, the difference from other groups varying from 1% to nearly 9%. Compared to Holstein, there was no difference in culling rate for low production (5.5% Holstein, 5.4% Jersey), but notable differences for reproduction problems (5.1% vs. 2.9%, respectively) and mastitis/high somatic cell score (4.0% vs. 2.8%).

This performance has been driven by genetics bred and developed for A.I. service. And, as shown in Table 1, though we have fewer bulls in active A.I. service compared to Holstein, they are competitive. On average, Jersey bulls have an advantage in combined PTAs for fat and protein, as well as for Productive Life (PL) and daughter pregnancy rate (DPR). The years of putting selection pressure on the things that matter most to the bottom line—efficient production of milk components, fitness and longevity—have delivered not only bottom-line performance and customer satisfaction, but also breed growth.

The challenge for achieving our potential growth is growing the number of Jersey bulls in A.I. that will satisfy the expectations of dairy farmers who will continually, always expect more: higher production of milkfat and protein, superior reproductive performance, better udder health, and longer productive life. And while Table 1 shows that the number of genomic-evaluated Jersey bulls (NAAB code G) is growing and that they hold an advantage in combined fat and protein PTAs compared to G-code Holstein bulls, Holstein is stepping up its selection emphasis in key traits and has widened its advantage for Net Merit.

Let’s concede the obvious. A bigger population affords greater opportunities to find the extremes. With a smaller population, one has to search harder among its members to find the exceptional genes.

Genotyping makes "searching harder" easier, much easier, more efficient and, importantly, more accurate than pedigree alone. As widely as genotyping has been utilized in the Jersey breed, it is being used far more among Holsteins. Table 2 tells the story. For the most recent month (March 2013), registered Holstein females are being tested at a rate more than double of Jersey (roughly 45% of average monthly registrations, vs. 20%, respectively).

The genes that will maintain Jersey’s competitive edge are out there. They need to be found. Increasing the pace of Jersey genotyping will help locate them, and bring them to market, and drive continued breed growth.