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VikingNews UK 01 2018
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4 vikingnews | may 2018 oakdale in california is the place of birth of
procross
. t he economics of dairying in the oakdale area did not leave room for mistakes or extra ex- penses. such a situation moved the founder of the local artificial insemi- nation (ai) company creative genet- ics, mike osmundson to take action together with a group of dairymen, and search for ways to survive in the dairy business. ?by carefully listening to our cus- tomers, we recognized there were problems with the us holstein, in- cluding calving difficulties, high so- matic cell count (scc) and poor fer- tility, as well as general diseases and problems with longevity. many of these problems are a direct result of inbreeding and poor breeding (breed- ing programs focused on high produc- tion only)?, osmundson states. to convince other farmers to do crosses was tough, not all the farmers going through many troubles with their pure holsteins were willing to risk their livelihood to try something so radically different. just a few farm- ers had the courage and the vision to try
crossbreeding
. ?in 1999, we felt like our cattle had reached the point where poor health and fertility were taking away the joy of farming and our profit. af- ter many conversations with a few local friends, we began
crossbreeding
our herd. the first few years were a trial to determine which breeds would be successful or not success- ful?, remembers kevin prins, who is co-owner of pioneer herd prins dairy with 600
procross
cows. a group of nine local dairies, de- cided to follow creative genetics in a joint venture of trying many breeds to determine a
crossbreeding
pro- gramme. with due time, the best breeds rose to the top and were want- ed by the dairymen involved. the three breeds were the holstein, vi- kingred and montbeliarde. this would evolve into the only universi- ty proven
crossbreeding
programme
in the world known as
procross
. ?when reflecting back, we jumped in with both feet and never looked back. today, our
programme
is a three-breed rotation using holstein, montbelliarde and vikingred. we are very happy with it and wouldn?t have it any other way?. kevin prins together with his wife, lori, recog- nizes. ?everything starts with thinking, that becomes a thought and that gives birth to an action?, mike osmundson says while describing the beginnings of
procross
. it was right after nine california dairies started to use the three-way cross that the university of minnesota started a trial to define the pluses and minuses of the system. ?the
procross
breeding
programme
is the only one in the world that has two university trials that prove it is profitable and another one that has proven that it?s more feed efficient than pure holsteins, producing more fat and protein?, osmundson states. 1998 was the birth date of the
procross
crossbreeding
system in oakdale, california. dairymen in the oakdale area were experiencing problems with their purebred holstein herds which were partly due to inbreeding of their cattle. they tried
crossbreeding
with many breeds, and found the best combination: vikingred, vikingholstein and montbeliarde. the successful
programme
is now the only scientifically proven
crossbreeding
programme
in the world. by verónica löfgren, communicator at vikinggenetics
procross
a successful option in the dairy business worldwide 4 vikingnews | may 2018
procross-cows-plan-5.html
