aAa Animal Analysis

Dovea Genetics aAa Results

In January 2023, Dovea welcomed the annual return aAa analysts Jan Schidler & Lory O Hanlon to analyse the latest consignment of dairy bulls in our stud.  The combination of aAa numbers on our sires demonstrate Doveas the unique & wide variation of aAa numbers in this year’s range. At Dovea we like to breed balanced bulls with great functionality.

Niall Duffy commented “Interestingly, over half of our sires transmit the quality 5 (Smooth) which adds round nice rib & capacity which is exactly what the breeds need right now after using many sires with the sharper numbers. With this in mind, the bulls with the 5 &6 numbers are well balanced delivering offspring with greater intake capacity to maintain production while having better body condition score (BCS). We also have two sires who deliver the qualities 651 which is also very rare"

What is aAa ?

The principle of the aAa method is built around the fact that there are correlations between a cows internal & external body parts and with her performance & health. The aAa method also known as ‘Triple-A’ aims to breed animals with correct balance to allow an animal to reach its full genetic potential.  Correct balance will enable long term production functionality and durability.

With the aAa method there are no statistical evaluation of traits, instead the following 6 strongly correlated group traits are labelled in order of prominence from left to right on a sire.

1.(Dairy), 2.(Tall),  3. (Open ), 4. (Strong),  5. (Smooth),  6 (Style)

These numbers can be used to match a bull to a cow or else assist your sire selections for 2023. As there is only one generation interval between the sire and its’ offspring there is high heritability of the above qualities which results in visible changes to its offspring.

“The perfect cow has an equal amount and reasonable level of all qualities which is-balanced”

For more information on the aAa contact Dovea 050421755

To get your cows aAa analysed contact Lorry O Hanlon 0879203239