I could be bounded in a nutshell

The first Australian daughter of JAMES JOLIE calved 27 October and she has settled nicely into this first lactation. The view, at this stage, is of a beautifully framed young cow, but lacking a little bit in stature and ligament. Like her dam, Semagen Jasper Jolie may well benefit from a couple more calves, and a similar pattern has emerged with the SID and ATWOOD daughters elsewhere in the world.

Semagen Jasper Jolie just before afternoon milking

The second of the Australian JOLIES is Semagen Supersire Jodie and she is just on 15 months old and should be mated by the close of 2015. She offers a very different style of pedigree via her paternal line, while maintaining the virtues of her dam's conformation.

Semagen Supersire Jodie

Each of the daughters has met expectations so far and the work continues building a good foundation of stock on the JOLIE legacy.

The inaudible and noiseless foot of Time

Amazingly, we now have four generations of Pennys at Semagen. Clydevale Informer Panda VG89 was bought from the Dees back in September 2007. She calved in with a bull last week after a long period dry and she has settled nicely.

On the same day, her grand-daughter, Semagen Goldfish Portia GP81, produced her second calf, Semagen Planet Peta. A fertility weakness has made the process of building the family feel like a very arduous one, but four generations in seven years now feels pretty good. The Goldfish daughter calved one year to the day after her first calf, so I'm just a little bit hopeful that she might have dodged the low-fertility bullet.

Her dam, Semagen Shottle Paloma VG88, continues to give us problems getting in calf. We will keep working on it with appropriate corrective matings over coming generations and, hopefully, fix the problem.

A little bit of flag still, but Panda is holding up nicely.

Peta has big ears, but the rest of her supports PLANET's calving ease reputation.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin

I am very pleased to present these photos of our two JOLIE x CHELIOS daughters living in Germany. Thanks to Christof Kästner, who was featured in this year’s June edition of Holstein International, the heifers were recently shown by his daughters in their district 4H show in the state of Thüringia. The two heifers and their handlers did very well at the show, and the Kästner team took out several awards including overall champion of the show with a beautifully prepared white heifer, Hodglynn Windbrook Lucky Girl.

The Kästner team

Semagen NM Chelios Jacinta

Semagen NM Chelios Jana

 
And, a video of Semagen NM Jacinta:

Posted by Christof Kästner on Friday, September 25, 2015

Take the current when it serves

Last year, I sent Clydevale Informer Panda VG89 off to the vet for in vitro embryo work. Sixteen embryos were produced from a handful of sires and 10 went in late 2014. The pregnancy rate was very good with six calves being produced since 29 August. Despite using sexed semen, two calves were bulls, and one heifer didn't make it. In the seven years since buying Panda there hadn't been much growth in the family and these three heifers by GUTHRIE and GOLD CHIP have doubled my population of daughters. Panda is due to calve soon and I'm very keen to see that this fourth lactation consolidates her impressive production record, as well as adding a point to her classification.

Semagen DVD Susanna

More embryo work is in the pipeline for one of my earliest investments as well as one of the recent additions. Elm Banks Shottle Plum VG87 has impressed in production over the years, but a loose fore-attachment and only one daughter out of six calves meant that something needed to be done quickly to give me some chance of realising her breeding potential. She will be flushed to sexed GLAUCO and JEANLU FIX in the coming week. Her flush buddy is Ingoldale Bonair Susie VG86 using sexed GUTHRIE and LEMUST. I'm banking on the two bulls introducing a good deal of milk to Susie's line without removing any of its conformation traits.

Semagen DVD Susanna, whose photo you can see above, is the third calf out of Susie and the first since we bought her from the Gilmores. Susanna is a very fancy heifer, which surprises me a little bit seeing as her sire is only rated 8 for conformation; a little high in her pins, but a lovely straight top-line, pretty good strength and stature are eye-catching at this early stage.

You might remember the trio of FEVER daughters imported from Italy out of a grand-daughter to the amazing Go-Farm Juror Painky, one of which I sold at the 2014 IDW Semex Sale. Semagen Fever Gala calved a couple of days ago with one of Panda's embryos. Her sister, Gabriella, also calved with a heifer by Semagen Jasper Jorj, a local son of Castel James Jolie.

Semagen Fever Gala just calved

Semagen Fever Gabriella (full sister to Gala) springing

Thy crown does sear mine eyeballs.

Semagen Supersire Jodie

I'm still awaiting confirmation of parentage on this one, but whether she's a BROKAW or a SUPERSIRE, she's coming along nicely. She could do with some extra length, but Jodie's strong and deep.

On the other side of the planet, there are two CHELIOS heifers sharing a pen with their brothers by CHELIOS, DOORMAN and BAXTINO. It hasn't been a resounding success with the IVF embryos, but we'll make do with what we've got so far.

Semagen Chelios Jana

Semagen Chelios Jacinta

Men are but gilded loam.

SEMAGEN JASPER FANTASIA GP82

She's a standout for her pedigree, her beauty and her sheer utility: SEMAGEN JASPER FANTASIA. Imported as an embryo from the USA out of the remarkable RAVENS, FANTASIA is GP82 and at 190 days into her second lactation her test stands at 6,054L, 242KgF and 204KgP.


Recently calved is SEMAGEN TRUMP COLETTA, from the FELICITYS. She's a little older than her peers for a first calver, but I thought on first inspection that she displays particularly good height and width in her rear udder.

SEMAGEN TRUMP COLETTA

Our most recently calved heifer is SEMAGEN GOLDSUN MARISKA who delivered a healthy female by ZANI B MASCALESE. MARISKA's fourth dam is WHITTIER-FARMS LEAD-MAE.

SEMAGEN GOLDSUN MARISKA