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VikingNews UK 01 2016
12 / 24
viking
bulls
do well in south africa big trust in nordic data collection daan
landman has used viking bulls for 20 years. he started to use danish jersey bulls in 1996. he has visited denmark many times and seen the efficiency of breeding in viking countries. ?i can trust your data collection system and that is the most important? he says and continues: ?with that information you have possibilities to breed many traits what others cannot do.? jersey, holstein and crosses the herd
consists of jerseys, holsteins and crossbred ani- mals. both jersey and holstein do very well in dairy produc- tion both as purebreed as well as crossbred. all the heifers are inseminated by jersey semen in order to ensure that there are no calving problems. ?all the heifers calve at the age of 24 months without problems,? daan says. efficient breeding in vikinggenetics the efficiency of breeding can easily be seen. ?the next gen- eration is better than the previous one? tells daan. they want to keep most of the heifers in their own herd to see the re- sults and expand the herd. the number of bulls they use is not very high but they use large numbers of doses per bull. with genomic bulls the number of doses is a little lower and the number of bulls is higher. milk production based on grazing the average daily production in the herd is about 18 kg milk/ cow. daan is happy with the production level as it is based on grazing. all the cows get low levels of concentrates but the main part of the cows? diet is grass in the pasture and si- lage (maize and grass). holstein cows as expected produce high levels of milk and the jerseys have higher components. the average fat is 4.2% for holsteins and 5.0% for jerseys. protein is 3.5% for holsteins and 4.0% for jerseys. hoof health index - an important tool some of the paddocks are quite far from the milking parlor, and cows have to walk long distances every day. this means that feet and legs are very important. hoof trimming is done but now with the hoof health index on the viking bulls and selecting for hoof health the number of trimming is expected to decrease. fertility and health in top daan is also very happy for the fertility of his cows. they use 1.4 straws per heifer per pregnancy and 2.1 straws per cow per pregnancy. this is the combination of good genetics and herd management. daan and elna landman?s dairy farm is in tsitsikamma region in eastern cape in south africa. the area is beautiful and lies between the indian ocean and a range of mountains that runs parallel to the sea with large areas for grazing. by seppo niskanen, export manager, vikinggenetics daan landman watching his dj may and dj zuma daughters. dj broiler daughter in the herd in south africa. 12 vikingnews | february 2016
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