Polled 1st Calf Heifer is 2nd High Seller at Prairieland

[JayHerron]

The Prairieland Production Sale, conducted by Jersey Marketing Service (JMS) on June 7th at the Fayette County Fairgrounds in West Union, Iowa included several polled consignments. Second-high seller – at $2100 – was Lot 100, Pennsota Eclipes 1361-P. A daughter of Maack Dairy Eclipes-P-ET, (7JE860), she sold six weeks fresh on her first lactation. Her dam is Pennsota Dallas 1230-P, a daughter of Fairway Mygent Dallas-PP (7JE953).

Purchased by Orthridge Jerseys of Lancaster, Wisconsin, she was scored VG-86% during their regular AJCA Type Appraisal one week later, after joining their herd. Derek Orth explains that she attracted his attention as a potentially homozygous polled female from which to develop a new polled cow family in their herd; he plans to genomically test her, including the add-on test for homozygous polled.

At Orthridge they are milking half a dozen polled females, with some ten polled heifers of all ages coming on. Their most prominent polled cow to date is Rudgers Lovabull Daisy-P, E90%, purchased as a bred heifer when the Orth family was expanding their herd in 2008. Under their management she has become the dam of three polled bulls available in AI, each by a different sire:
 Orthridge Da Bomb-P-ET (200JE212) – sired by Tollenaars Impuls Legal 233-ET (29JE3506)
 Orthridge Demolition-P (1JE765) – sired by Cave Creek Vermeer-ET (1JE666)
 Orthridge Dragon-P-ET (1JE799) – sired by Schultz Rescue Headline (29JE3510)

Orthridge I Legal Desert Rose-P-ET – a daughter of “Daisy-P” – is the dam of Orthridge High Five-P (200JE231). Sired by PF Lennox Hendrix (1JE768) and born in September 2012, he is projected for semen release later this year as a genomic young sire.

Orthridge has also been offering well-received polled females in consignment sales, most recently the Iowa Spring Extravaganza Sale on March 23rd. Orthridge Valentino Vanna-P was the 2nd high selling Jersey that day, at $5,500 (this sale includes both Jerseys and Ayrshires, an annual joint venture of the two breed state organizations in Iowa). At the time of the sale “Vanna-P” was the highest-ranked GJPI polled daughter of her sire (All Lynns Louie Valentino-ET, 7E1038), and was confirmed pregnant to Orthridge Da Bomb-P (200JE212) for an October due date.

Additional information about the polled Jerseys being developed in the Orthridge herd, including young polled bulls on hand, is available from Derek Orth: 608.778.9049 (cell phone) or by email dereksjerseys@gmail.com