bull-survival-breeding-9.html
VikingNews UK 01 2015
10 / 24
the good life with
procross
t he lassen family in denmark has 20 years experience of or- ganic dairy farming and 12 years with cross breeding. ?we had a normal holstein herd, but too many problems with general health and hooves, made us look for alternatives. we were a bit uncertain which breeds to choose. jersey we did not want be- cause of the lack of beef value. the ob- vious choice was therefore danish red - a breed known for health, fertility, strong black hooves, beef quality and high production. the science and sev- eral studies prove that we need a third breed in the rotation to get the full het- erosis. we selected finnish ayrshire and we were very pleased with those crosses. in fact our four oldest
cows
are fay x hol!?, anne &
gert
smile. happy with vikingred and montbeliarde when vikinggenetics was founded, the breeding programs of danish red, finn- ish ayrshire and swedish red merged into one - vikingred. therefore anne &
gert
had to look for another breed for the cross breeding program. ?we stud- ied the
procross
concept that in- cludes the french montbeliarde breed, which seemed to be our kind of
cows
- high components, strength, robustness and good beef quality. strong wills - easy calvings both montbeliardes and vikingreds have a stronger will than holstein
cows
, and that you have to learn when working with them. ?on the other hand both calves and
cows
have a much stronger will to survive. calvings are also easy and we hardly ever assist with a calving, even though we now use charolais for the poorest half of the
cows
. the possibility for using the beef strategy is thanks to the great longevity of the
procross
cows
. therefore we need less replacement heifers, and we don?t want to produce heifers with the goal of selling them ? there?s no econo- my in raising and selling heifers and you better use your land for producing milk?,
gert
& anne point out. the cull- ing rate for the
procross
herd is 20- 25% per year. super fertility the fertility of the cross bred
cows
is excellent and they use eyes and ears to see the signals of heifers and
cows
in heat - no activity meters are installed. especially during milking they catch many
cows
? heats. ?the size of the heif- er is evaluated prior to breeding and some of the montbeliardes heifers real- ly take of with tremendous growth, so we need to monitor them!?,
gert
high- lights. by poul bech sørensen anne &
gert
lassen, denmark, achieve fantastic results in their organic herd of 250
procross
cows
. the production has passed 11,500 kg ecm, cell count is below 100,000, fertility is excel- lent and they hardly ever have a sick cow.
procross
contributes very much to their good life. ?the robustness of the cross bred
cows
is definitely a major contribution to healthier
cows
?. anne &
gert
lassen ?
procross
makes breeding re- ally easy. you simply have to select the best sires from each breed and the great thing is that you never have to worry about inbreeding?.
gert
lassen anne and
gert
lassen with their four children enjoy the good life with their herd of 250
procross
cows
. 10 vikingnews | february 2015
cows-procross-production-11.html