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VikingNews Global 1-2019
10 / 28
by joakim hansen, marketing department, vikinggenetics dairy
farm
ing easier with x-vik m ikkelsen took over the havdal jersey
farm
from his parents in 1985. at that time, the
farm
had 40 jersey
cows
on an area of 35 hectares. now, more than three decades later, the
farm
has a herd of 100 jersey
cows
and an area of 115 ha.
mikkelsen
has the main responsibility for the
farm
and
cows
, while mette takes care of the business which includes sales of fresh milk and home made ice cream. ?breeding has always been important to me,? mikkels- en says. his enthusiasm about the kind of cow he wants to have on his dairy
farm
is firmly established as he is also a board member of the danish jersey association. ?my main focus regarding breeding strategy, right now, is to increase production as well as achieving better ud- der health and udder quality for my
cows
,? he says. he is also keen on selecting long-lived
cows
. ?longevi- ty is also very important,? he says. and the fact that he has a low replacement rate of 25% backs up this statement. full use of tools and solutions as a breeding enthusiast,
mikkelsen
has kept track of the new solutions vikinggenetics has offered and is a full user of all of the available tools to breed the best dairy animals. he uses x-vik sexed semen on 100% of his heifers. he wants to make sure that he is breeding his future herd based on the best genes of his herd. as such,
mikkelsen
tests all his animals genomically. this knowledge enables him to determine his breeding strategy. he crosses 50% of his
cows
outside the top group with beef semen, while using conventional jersey semen on other
cows
, in order to try and breed some good bulls, that he can sell to vikinggenetics for the genetic progress of the jersey breeding programme.
mikkelsen
also does embryo flushing on some of his best heifers to further in- crease the genetic improvement gains.
mikkelsen
is also keen to share how genetics from vi- king has helped him in other ways besides producing healthy, high performing
cows
. in 2015, he won ?den- mark?s most beautiful dairy cow? with his - at the time ? four-year old jersey cow gaia.
mikkelsen
lets his
cows
go out to pasture in the summer despite not running an organic
farm
. he says that people who visit the
farm
to buy ice cream, seem to really enjoy watching the
cows
happily wandering around outdoors. successful breeding strategy with x-vik havdal jersey
farm
is located in søften a few kilometres outside denmark?s second largest city, aarhus. jørn
mikkelsen
and his daughter, mette, own and run this prosperous dairy
farm
where the speciality is fresh jersey milk and home-made ice cream. facts of the
farm
? number of
cows
99 ? ecm 9,509 kg ? fat % 5.82 ? protein % 4.16 ? employees: jørn and mette
mikkelsen
jørn
mikkelsen
uses x-vik sexed semen on 100% of his heifers. - find the best vikingjerseys for you with vikrank! vj gutz ? superior hoof health ? high production ? vikingdefence? sire vj quintana ? international superstar ? great udders ? great functional conformation vj james ? perfect for grazing herds ? improves fertility ? balanced health profile ? ? ??? ? ? ?? ? ? ?? 10 vikingnews | may 2019
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