milk-production-price-13.html
VikingNews UK 01 2018
14 / 28
14 vikingnews | may 2018 d ag
arvidsson
grew up on the farm he owns. he runs it with his sister and seven employees. ar- vidsson has been a dairy farmer since 1993. the new barn at lövåsa built in 2012 houses 430
cows
, main- ly holsteins, in organic dairy production. milk production is around 10,000 kg, and after ex- panding the
herd
, all heifers born are genomically tested and only the best ntm-heifers are selected as dams for the next generation. over the last five years, the farm has enjoyed excellent development and now it?s time for some fine tuning. ?my breeding goal is not about maximising production or to develop show
cows
but to have a
herd
with high performing dairy
cows
. no extremes, just good working
cows
,?
arvidsson
says. pioneer in genetic advances
arvidsson
is an early adopter when it comes to new genet- ics, first buying embryos 20 years ago. ?two years ago i started to genomically test all females and use the bottom 30% of the
herd
for beef. this is the fastest way to make genetic progress in the
herd
,? he says. sexed semen, x-vik, is used to some extent, but he recognizes that using this more can enable even quicker progress in the
herd
.
arvidsson
and his team meet with their breeding advi- sor four times a year and go through the
herd
?s kpis and plan upcoming females to be inseminated with young high ntm sires. ?i can see a difference every year in terms of better production and healthier animals. work becomes fun when you monitor development and can see progress. that is what drives me,? he explains. as udder health is an important part of their daily routine, this is a ?must? when selecting bulls. in the past 12 months only 3% of the
cows
have been treated for mastitis. this is reflected in the clean and dry floors, good environment and really low level of hoof diseases in the
herd
. the next goal is to cut costs even more per kg of pro- duced milk. ?you can always do a little bit better, and by monitoring this kpi we can save more money while keep- dag
arvidsson
with erika and jessica zetterlund (twins) and anna davidsson. by camilla rosman, marketing manager at vikinggenetics time for fine-tuning at the organic farm lövåsa in sweden lövåsa farm is beautifully situated near kinnekulle, lidköping, sweden, in an area where there are many intensive, organic farms, not so much thanks to the abundance of natural pasture land, but more for the quality of the soil that is ideal for this type of farming and the fact that the cold winters eliminate bugs and fungi.
arvidsson-cows-farm-15.html
