Holstein International Sire Report: Regancrest AltaIOTA

In March 2009 the first O-Man sons surfaced in HI’s bull father survey. And ever since the O-Mans have dominated this bi-annual survey and supplied the leader of the list without once missing out. In September 2010 and recently, in February 2011, AltaIota was the most-used sire of sons. The more O-Man sons become available and the more they receive use as sires of sons, the more critical sire analysts become when judging later half-brothers: Especially where type potential is concerned, the weakest link in O-Man breeding. As a TPI top- 5 bull and as one of the twenty top bulls for Net Merit, Iota has obtained the required sire of sons level, while at +2.32 PTAT he surpasses any discussion about type. The key for his high type potential is the brood-cow power of Snow-N Denises Dellia EX-95, the foundation cow behind bulls like Durham, Dundee, Die- Hard, Mac, Million, and many others.

His Breeder

At Regancrest Farms in Waukon, Iowa, they milk 550 cows. Since the purchase of Snow-N Denises Dellia EX-95, more than twenty years ago, the farm has developed one of the most influential breeding herds worldwide. Dellia became the dam of foundation bull Durham and of the type specialists Dundee, Derry, and Empire. Lots of proven sire successes followed, for instance with millionaire Die-Hard, or with Mac and Million, the son and grandson of Dellia’s Rudolph daughter Dena. In combination with a homebred cow family, Dellia’s son Durham produced Regancrest’s second supreme brood cow: Regancrest-PR Barbie EX-92 (see HI 02/2011). With the Barbies, Regancrest is in the center of the attention again at the beginning of the genomics era. ‘In our ET program we work with 10 cows that are flushed for one year and then bred back. Every month 70 to 100 ET calves are being born, depending on the number of IVFs that were carried out. A number of calves came out with high genomics. If we flush heifers, it is often those with high genomics. Hopefully genomics will help us find the right donors,’ says Sheri Regan.

His Sire

Besides production, fitness, and longevity, OBee Manfred Justice (O-Man) gave the Holstein breed the fertility impulse it needed. The number of sires of sons amongst his sons is large. Three of them have topped HI’s list of the worlds most used sires of sons: Man-O-Man, Gerard, and then AltaIota, twice.

His Family

In spite of the enormous interest in the Barbies, Sheri Regan unabatedly continues to appreciate the Dellias. ‘The Dellias just keep popping up. I guess the good type breeds through, no matter what bulls you use. Iota was a nice surprise. His dam, Regancrest Ito Isa VG-86, was flushed a lot - because she was a really good young cow - with bulls like Juror Ito, Emory, Mark and Bell, who were all impact bulls in a pedigree. We did not use much O-Man because of his udder traits, but he does transmit other things that the breed needs: health traits, strength and calving ease. Ito Isa was a tall dairy cow with a really nice quality udder. Her daughters have been very good-uddered cows as well. We have a Bolton granddaughter that has been a very popular cow here. She has been contracted for both embryos and bulls to almost every major bull stud. We bought a Planet that is just fresh, from one of Isa’s Shottle daughters before Iota was released. We have used Iota very heavily. Currently we have 4 females and 4 males on the ground and have over 150 pregnancies due to him. He is a tremendous settler.’ From Regancrest Ito Isa VG-86, herself a halfsister to the Canadian proven bull Regancrest Dolman, besides Iota there are two more sons that graduated to active sire service: Regancrest Oman Infinite (1875 TPI) for Genex CRI , and the Shottle son Regancrest S Isley (1719 TPI) for ABS Global. Isa has 13 registered daughters by O-Man, Shottle, Offroad, and Marion. Her (eight) Shottles stand out the most.   

Regancrest Ito Isa VG-86, the dam of AltaIOTA, was a large, dairy daughter of Barbee-M Juror Ito (Juror x Elton), one of Juror's best sons

His Sampling Period

In December AltaIota maintained his high breeding values from his debut in August 2010, and improved the milk, fat and protein figures. His type proof improved slightly to an outstanding +2.32 PTAT. For most traits Iota transmits +1.00 or more. For size, strength, capacity, rump width, fore udder attachment, front teat placement, and ligament he scores higher than +2.00; for rear udder height more than +3.00 and for rear udder width even more than +4.00! The only point requiring protection is the high pins (-0.42). The numbers for fertility, calving ease traits, and cell count are very favorable. The breeding value for longevity is high (+3.0 PL) although it has dropped a little since August (+3.4).

Action Acres Iota 2308 Nagel Dairy Farms LLC; Deerbrook, WI

David Hill is advisor for Alta’s Advantage sampling program and works in the eastern U.S. with 45 herds, with 1000 cows on average. ‘I have seen 28 AltaIota daughters. Most of them are now halfway through their second lactation. The transmitting pattern is very consistent; a Dellia quality we see back in them. As compared to the O-Mans, the AltaIota daughters have longer frames from head to tail and are better uddered. They have very good stature and have tremendously wide front-ends. The udders are wide and highly attached and the ligaments are strong. Leg set is ideal and bone quality is more dairy than with most O-Man daughters. You can also recognize the Dellia influence in their rump angle. Half the offspring have horizontal rumps, the other half high-pinned rumps. The AltaIotas have Dellia’s style. O-Man sired the extra width to the frontends. The AltaIota daughters really stand out in their herds - more than I have seen from any other bull in the past ten years. In the second lactation their frames become deeper and their udders deeper and wider.’ According to Hill, Iota combines the best of O-Man and Dellia. ‘Iota has favorable calving traits and daughter fertility. He can be used in many places, but it should be mentioned he breeds them quite big and pin setting requires attention.’

Parkview Iota 4009 Parkview Dairy; Delhi, CA

Jon Schefers is sire analyst for Alta. ‘We use AltaIota to the max as a sire of sons and will sample 20 to 30 sons. With his outstanding strength and legs pattern I think Iota is a perfect combination for Planet daughters. He also works well on BW Marshall descendants. Iota’s milk merit is good, but I would prefer to combine him with descendents of high milk transmitters like Planet than with daughters of percentage bulls like Goldwyn. I am sure Iota will breed very good and complete cows. Amongst his 1st crop daughters are phenomenal cows like Parkview Iota 4009. Alta will soon sample her Niagra son.’ Finally: AltaIota is a good semen producer, however he cannot meet the worldwide demand.

Article by Jorden Stegink, published in Holstein Internation 2011