A CROSS-BORDER partnership has produced one of the most exciting animals the modern Holstein breed has seen.

The heifer, Islandpride Riverdane Agronaut Zoe 2 bred by a partnership between Mark Nutsford from Cheshire and Richard Lloyd from Anglesey, has been bought by Cogent Breeding Ltd.

At £855 Profitable Lifetime Index she is over £80 PLI points ahead of her closest rival.

“We want to be able to provide our customers in the UK and around the world with the best genetics to suit their individual farming system,” explains Andrew Holliday, genetic product manager for Cogent.

“The acquisition of elite females is a key part of securing the genetics we need to be able to carry that out and they don’t get more elite than this heifer.”

Her sire, Mr Rubi-Agronaut, is himself no stranger to the top of the rankings, having spent more than a year as the number one £PLI sire available. The dam of Agronaut Zoe 2 is also one of the highest ranking £PLI animals of the breed, making an extremely powerful combination.

Since the partnership between Cogent and US-based Sexing Technologies was created in 2017, the Cogent business in the UK has gone from strength to strength.

The key driver for this has undoubtedly been the success of its sexed semen product, Sexed ULTRA 4M, which has seen conception rates rival those achieved with conventional semen.

This, combined with a wide range of elite genetics, has given every dairy farmer in the country the opportunity to breed their best animals to the best sires with sexed semen.