Godshill Primate E120/B

[PorcPrunus NL]

I just read in the bulletin that Godshill Primate has won the Bill Butcher Trophy for the most popular society AI Sire.
I don't understand why an experimental bull (that means an upgraded bull) is used so often in the UK? You have so many excellent purebred AI bulls in the UK (Coda, Sultan, Talos, Pluto etc etc)

[Duncan MacIntyre]

As far as I know only bulls whose semen is available from DCS are eligible for the Bill Butcher trophy. Originally it was so uneconomic for any breeder to put a bull on AI and get any return on the cost that DCS paid for the collection and the breeder donated the semen to the society. Now that there is such demand and that there are so many other bulls available there is maybe not much need for this. I have never been involved in any of the decisions on what bulls are offered, but I was asked to put Ilsington Bramble on in 1990, he was collected at Scone by SMMB, twice because the first collection was, according to MAFF (since DEFRA then AHVLA now APHA) not eligible for export, despite the fact that other bulls (Simmental) collected under the same standard were. So the second collection was at SMMB expense - DCS got twice the semen, I paid most of the costs. Originally DCS decided to give me 50p per straw as it was sold, but this was stopped with no explanation. Several years ago Di Smith contacted me to see if I wanted a large quantity of his semen (cna't remember exactly but I think over 1000 straws) as they were going to throw it out. Having gone totally over to non chondro carrier I did not want it, so I presume they threw it away. Other bulls have since been added to the list but there is never any explanation as to how or why they are chosen. Maybe hope of good milking potenial looking at their pedigrees. I assume that our DCS genetic advisors are involved, but given their attachment to the so called "original population" it is hard to see the justification of including a bull who has a Jersey cross Aberdeen Angus cow as a great great grandmother. That makes him 93% pure Dexter.

I am not sure how long his semen has been avialable but he only has two registered progeny in 2015 so far. None of his male calves have been registered as bulls and most of his heifers have no registered offspring so he can't be chosen on evidence I don't think. but neither was Ilsington Bramble.

Duncan