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VikingNews AU 02 2018
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news | september 2018 discovering more about the vikings? viking australia
representative darren fletcher and gippsland reseller gus kirk
from g & s farm services travelled to sweden and denmark in late june and early july to visit some scandinavian dairy farms where they got to learn more about the scandinavian breeding goal. v ikinggenetics australia representative darren fletcher along with gippsland reseller gus kirk from g & s farm services undertook a long jour- ney from the land ?down under? to learn more about the vikings. the purpose of the visit was to understand, first hand, more about the three breeds of dairy cattle that vikinggenetics have available in australia: viking- red, vikingholstein and vikingjersey, as well as to learn more about the benefits that can be achieved by using the viking products and solutions. ?it was great to have access to many herds. it gave us the opportunity to see milking cows of all ages, replace- ment heifers and calves. we didn?t just get to see select- the purpose of visit was for darren fletcher and gus kirk to know more about the three breeds of dairy cattle that vikinggenetics has available in australia: vikingred, vikingholstein and vikingjersey. ed daughters from selected sires?, kirk commented. he went on to say that the difference vikinggenetics has with the rest of other companies in australia is their dedicated focus on the health traits. ?viking has an enor- mous focus on health traits when it comes to its sires, a focus that seems to produce excellent commercial dairy cattle?, he stated. a passionate vg team whilst in sweden and denmark the australians also had the opportunity to visit vikinggenetics? offices and bull stations. ?the viking staff are just so passionate and keen about their company, bulls and systems. there?s a real belief there that it?s the best product around?, kirk remarked. another fact that he found interesting was the willingness of vikinggenetics to use outcross sires from other countries to help breed sires of sons, ?what a great initiative to give variety in their breeding genetics?, he said. asked about the similarities between scandinavian and australian farmers, both kirk and fletcher agreed on the fact that farmers in australia and scandinavia are looking for medium framed cows with good feet and legs, good udders, good daughter fertility and longevity. the scandinavian dairy farmers have done a lot of ge- netic progress in these areas, they commented. ?the tour was a great opportunity to see a large num- ber of viking cattle being milked in many different sys- tems, from free stall barns to high production, organic herds on pasture. definitely something to recommend to the australian farmer,? they concluded. successful breeding goal around the vikingworld viking world a r o u n d t h e
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