One of Australia’s premier Holstein herds will open its gates on February 5 to showcase some of the first milking daughters of a world-leading homozygous polled sire. Based at Calivil in Northern Victoria, Calister Holsteins was established more than 20 years ago and in 2024 was added to the Genetics Australia’s honour board.
Craig Lister’s Calister Holsteins at Calivil in northern Victoria is now milking more than 50 two-year-old daughters of Vogue A2P2-PP that will be on display during the Genetics Australia open day. Mr Lister said he wanted a bull that would facilitate the process of moving the Holstein breed to becoming polled. “We’re at the precipice where in the next few years, the Holstein breed could theoretically choose to be a polled breed,” he said. “We’re in the early stages and can’t jump right in now, but it’s something I believe we should investigate. “A2P2 is a bull that allowed me to make a very significant step towards that conversion.”
On a 2016 study tour, Mr Lister saw the first daughters of Powerball-P, a bull that bridged the gap between polled being a niche consideration or a realistic option for commercial dairy farmers. “It’s amazing to see that in less than 10 years we now have a number of options that allow us to make choices for polled without stepping too far away from our normal breeding goals,” he said. “We need to use these influential bulls wisely so we can take the next step to make polled a significant option for people who choose to farm that way.“A bull like A2P2 allowed me to add polled and then go back to the best of the non-polled Holstein bulls to add in diverse genetics which will eventually broaden the polled gene pool.”
Mr Lister said the A2P2 daughters were excellent. “I believe they are going to have long and profitable careers in my herd,” he said.Vogue A2P2’s supplies sold out last year but a new shipment is arriving and will be marketed by Genetics Australia. A2P2 is bred by the Vogue Cattle Co in Canada and has more than 2500 daughters worldwide.
Genetics Australia’s Northern Victoria Regional Sales Manager Jon Holland said A2P2 was ranked number 2 in Canada for type and his first Australian milking daughters had ranked highly at more than 110 for overall type in Australia.“He’s one of the global leading confirmation bulls…a global polled phenomenon,” Mr Holland said.
“Being a homozygous polled bull sets him in a league of his own.” Mr Holland said the first lactation milking daughters were a great success at Callister Holsteins. “Craig used A2P2 very heavily, not just as a good bull but largely for the polled factor, and the consistency has been outstanding.”
The February 5 open day starts at 10am at Calister Holsteins, 142 Listers Road, Calivil. Callister Holsteins has also contributed leading bulls to the Genetics Australia program, including Decipher and his best-known entry to the GA program, Maebull.
