“aAa” Animal Analysis after 55
years still growing in popularity
the world over.
aAa Analyzer Jim Sarbacker analyzes bulls for about 90 Artificial
breeding companies from around the world. On his first visit to New
Zealand to analyze bulls for Ambreed, LIC and Samen, Jim also
attended four field days organized by Samen to explain the system to
Kiwi dairy farmers, keen to learn and see at first hand how the aAa
actually works and how it can benefit them into the future.
Feedbacks received from these days show that New Zealand farmers
are interested in using aAa as a simple and easy to use breeding tool.
• Very useful - need to look further than single trait fixing - thanks for
running an excellent day
• Very useful - we need more focus on type with breeding
• Very useful explanations of interrelations of confirmation - very
thought provoking demonstration
• Very useful - how to select the right bulls for the herd
• Makes a lot of sense to look for the reason behind the faults in your
herd before you can successfully fix them.
Samen NZ is the only breeding organization in New Zealand to publish
aAa codes in their Sire Catalogue and actively promote the use
of aAa.
You may contact Cees van Baar if you are interested to learn more
about aAa analysis.
Congratulations to George and Jose Van der Poel from Winton,
Southland on being the winners of the $500 worth of free semen from
the Samen aAa fielday draw.
Field day explains benefits of aAa
THE aAa field day was hosted by visiting US analyser Jim
Sarbacker at the Luxmoore Jersey and Holstein Friesian
stud near Palmerston North in late May.
To begin the day, Mr Sarbacker used a 13-year-old quality
Jersey cow from the stud to demonstrate how its strengths
derived through of blending elements of the aAa system.
He then explained the history of the aAa system, which was
developed by the late Bill Weeks and implemented by a group
of breeders over 50 years ago.
Mr Sarbacker also described the six components of the aAa
system and how the different numbers could be applied to
choose suitable bulls for breeding.
“We started looking at individual cows. Jim asked members
of the field day to start looking at the weakness and strengths
of individual cows and look at what they would need to make
the next generation a better cow,” says Mr Cameron who was
one of the farmers who attended the aAa field day.
After looking at about 10-12 different examples of cows the
field day finished up with a question and answer session.
“I think it was a highly successful day. I import semen from
bulls from the USA and it’s really good to have an idea of how
they may breed and how I may be able to use them in my system.
It’s very hard to read a typed graph from someone’s sales
pitch and know that that’s the sort of animal you might get
from the next generation,” says Mr Cameron.
Mr Cameron have had all of their cows coded by Jim while he
was in New Zealand and he looks forward to applying the system
to his cows in the up and coming breeding season.
For info go to: www.aaa123456.com
