Episode Details

A homozygous polled bull just topped Canada's August 2025 proven LPI list — ahead of every horned sire in the country. The 15-year horn tax is gone.

The Bullvine Podcast breaks down how polled went from bargain-bin compromise to the top of the proven lists. The top polled bull on the US list now reads 3371 TPI, polled hit 12.5% of Canadian Holsteins in 2025, and the Canadian merit gap has shrunk to under $100 HHP$. Here's what that means for your next mating sheet.

What You'll Learn

• Why the "production penalty" reason to skip polled no longer holds
• The difference between P and PP — and why only PP flips a herd in one generation
• How Cherry-Lily Zip Luster-P erased the type-versus-production trade
• What Denmark's 2031 dehorning ban means for your sire list
• Whether the dehorning iron still pays its way at $5 a calf
• The inbreeding risk hiding in polled's short list of cow families

Polled used to cost you milk, type, or both. Not anymore. A daughter-proven, homozygous polled bull sat at #1 in Canada, and Vogue A2P2-PP is the only polled Holstein on record classified EX-97. The trade-off now is roughly 147 TPI points between the top P and top PP bull on the US August 2025 list — small enough that the real question isn't whether you can afford polled. It's whether dehorning still earns its place in your barn.

Full article and sources: https://www.thebullvine.com/genetics-breeding/polled-just-hit-3371-tpi-the-dehorning-iron-is-now-a-choice-not-a-necessity/ Subscribe for straight-talking dairy analysis. Share this with a producer who needs it.