Terang farmers and long-time GA supporters Bryan and Jo Dickson have scored a rare double feat with both their Holstein and Jersey studs topping the latest Australian Breeding Values (ABV) lists.
The April 2025 ABV release from DataGene shows Emu Banks Holsteins continued their run at the top with an average BPI of 376. For the first time, Spring Banks Jerseys took top spot on the breed’s ranking with an average BPI of 279.
This is the first time since the formation of DataGene that one farmer has topped both major breed indexes.
It fulfills a long-held ambition for Bryan, a former GA board member. “It’s pretty cool; it’s something I have wanted to do for a long time,” he said.
Daryl Hoey had a similar achievement about 12 years ago, topping the Holstein, Jersey and Aussie Red ABVs under the former Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme, the predecessor to DataGene.
The herd consists of about 50 Jerseys and 30-40 Brown Swiss but the bulk is Holstein, about 900 cows.
Bryan has enjoyed a long and fruitful connection with GA as a board member, bull supplier and a user of semen and IVF services.
Emu Banks Northeast has joined our current Holstein bull team and Emu Banks Austen will be released in spring. Austen will be one of the first sons of Australind, one of Australia’s highest standing genomic bulls for a number of years, to join the team.
