The Specht Report: Home
Reports are based on the August 2010 official proof release. Reports are updated annually; the next scheduled update will be August 2011. Chad Dechow, Editor.
Read Chad Dechow's article in FarmShine, Genomic Genetic Evaluations: Impact and Opportunity (pdf).
About the Report
The Sire-Son and Prefix reports were developed at Penn State University by Dr. Larry Specht and first published in the mid 1970s. The reports have been used to compare the performance of a sire with his sons and provide a list of the prefixes that are providing the top Holstein bulls to the A.I. industry in the US. The Bull-Mother report is a spin-off from the original Sire-Son and Prefix reports and lists dams that have provided the top Holstein bulls.
All reports are updated annually after the August sire proofs are released. To be automatically notified when the new reports are available, subscribe at lists.psu.edu.
View the Reports
- Sire-Son Report
The top 150 sires sorted by Sons Lifetime Net Merit (Son NM). - The Prefix Report
The top 150 prefixes sorted by bulls' Lifetime Net Merit. - The Bull-Mother Report
The top 100 dams sorted by Sons Lifetime Net Merit (Son NM). - The Sire-Genomic Son Report
The top sires sorted by Son Lifetime Net Merit (Son LNM)
Questions About the Specht Report
- What bulls, prefixes and cows are included in the reports?
- Sires and Prefixes with at least 20 A.I. progeny tested sons and cows with a minimum of 10 A.I. progeny tested sons are included. Only U.S. sons that were born in the last 25 years are used. A fourth report (Sire-Genomic Son Report) contains sires with at least 20 A.I. sons born in the last 4 years that do not yet have daughters.
- How are the genetic averages calculated?
- PTAs are obtained for all sons. The average PTA of the sons is then calculated for each sire, prefix or cow for several traits.
- How are the bulls, prefixes and cows ranked?
- All the reports are now ranked on Lifetime Net Merit, but can be sorted by a variety of traits.
- Who calculates a son's Predicted Transmitting Ability (or PTA)?
- Official national genetic evaluations are generated by the Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory (aipl.arsusda.gov) at the USDA for production traits. Official national genetic evaluations for PTAT are calculated by the Holstein Association USA, Inc. (www.holsteinusa.com).