After an extraordinary fifteen year career at Genus ABS, the decision has been made to retire Picston Shottlefrom the active bull line-up; he leaves behind a significant legacy after producing 1,174,948 units of semen.
Picston Shottle had a major influence over the Holstein breed as an icon for dairy farmers around the globe. “Shottle captivated the dairy and AI industries for more than a decade, with strong characteristics such as semen fertility, production, low somatic cell counts, consistently pleasing type, and fantastic temperament. These traits assisted him in becoming one of the greatest ‘customer satisfaction’ bulls of all time,” explained Mark Smith, ABS global production director, at a birthday celebration for Shottle in July, 2014.
Shottle was born at Spot Acre Grange near Stafford, England, the home of the Pickford family and Picston Holsteins. He was the son of dam Condon Aero Sharon EX-91 and sire Carol Prelude Mtoto.
“He was the first UK bull to reach the magical milestone of one million doses of semen produced and sold. He consistently ranked high on the PLI and Type rankings regardless of age. Even today, he still stands at 2.28 Type Merit with over 18,000 UK daughters classified alone. He is widely seen as the bull that put UK genetics and breeding programmes on the worldwide map, sparking a huge increase in exports of UK genetics,” comments David Guthrie, Dairy Product Manager.
Genus ABS remains the premier source for Shottle-influenced genetics, marketing conventional and sexed semen from 17 direct sons and 27 maternal grandsons. With 19 maternal grandsons awaiting proof information, Shottlewill continue to influence the industry for years to come.
Not only was Shottle popular in the dairy and AI industries, but he received enormous amounts of press coverage from all over the world early on in his career. In addition to dairy trade publications, stories about Shottleappeared in numerous newspapers and magazines, including The Times of London and Daily Mail. Perhaps the most notable was his feature in Playboy magazine, a feat no other bull at Genus ABS has accomplished.
Throughout his retirement, Shottle can expect superstar treatment including the enjoyment of a pen twice the size of his herd mates where he can bask under heat lamps and get regular exercise from the dedicated team of stockmen at the Ruthin stud in the United Kingdom. Please join us in wishing Shottle a long and healthy retirement. More at www.genusbreeding.co.uk
The photo shows Shottle ‘put out to grass’
22 February 2015
