BREEDER’S FORUM
MULTI-BREED CELEBRATION
CONTRIBUTORS John Stevenson: Waupley & Liverton, Saltburn, Cleveland Ian Collins: Churchroyd, Dewsbury, South Yorkshire Michael Hussey: Cancourt, Swindon, Wiltshire Phil Manning: Etshill, Minsterley, Shropshire Morris Gross: Trewarnevas, Helston, Cornwall
This issue has provided the ideal platform to ask four of our members their opinion on both the Black & White and at least one other breed they are involved with
Q
What breeds other than the Holstein have you experience of at home and why is each breed there?
John: Ayrshire’s have always been at Blue House and the herd was started by my late grandfather Geoff. After wining the Ayrshire Championship at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2004, I wanted to try a different breed, and after some thought and research decided to go for the Holstein. Ian: Shorthorns predominantly, although we do also have three Jerseys – their presence is purely for novelty and the kids in particular like them and there is no plan to increase Jersey numbers at the moment. The Shorthorns were the foundation of the herd as they fi t our system best, hardy and robust and able to cope with the challenging environmental conditions, for example their excellent mobility is ideal for grazing our steep hillsides. We introduced the Holsteins when I returned home after fi nishing college as we were desperate to double cow numbers and at the time Red and Whites were at a peak trade, so Holsteins provided a cheaper alternative with the benefi t of extra milk. Michael: Brown Swiss. We started introducing them into the herd in 1986 with embryos imported from the USA. We are now milking 90 pedigree Swiss and 90 Holsteins. We were looking for a compatible breed that had similar physical size and production to our Holsteins to enable us to run all the cattle together without creating extra management groups. We were looking for a breed with superior longevity that would counter the rise we were seeing in annual replacement rate with our Holsteins. The extra milk quality has been a welcome bonus. Phil: Jerseys. My Girlfriend had three or four Jerseys and I fell in love with them. They are so docile and easy to manage and have great dairy strength and qualities. I very much enjoy showing them for these reasons but more recently their quality of milk has helped the overall butter fat in the milk tank at home. The dairy herd at home has always been Friesians but in 1982 we moved to using Holstein sires. Morris: We have been farming Guernseys in the family for six generations, we are milking 80 Guernseys at present and 200 Holsteins. We introduced Holsteins for more milk production and also because of the diffi culty in fi nding good replacements for the Guernseys.
Q
Do you have any problems with the different breeds being farmed together? John (below): The two breeds are farmed equally and we fi nd no problems.
Ian: There are no problems with the two breeds functioning effectively on the same system. This is with the exception of the odd Shorthorn cow, who believes she is boss and will take no pity on a Jersey at the feed passage!
Michael: The two breeds are very compatible although the Swiss have a much fl atter production profi le, so it is easy to underestimate their true potential as heifers when compared with their Holstein herd mates. With the variation in profi le one has to give careful thought to feeding regimes. The Swiss are very easy care animals and it is possible to relax one’s management input to the detriment of the Holsteins. Phil: We don’t have any problems with them being together, the only difference is that the Jerseys need a little more looking after pre-calving (we don’t seem to have a problems with Milk Fever, even with mature cows) and in the autumn the Jerseys need to be brought in two weeks earlier than the
Holsteins. Morris: The two breeds live well together, we don’t fi nd that we have to treat them any different to each
other. We run the cows as two lots; one of high yielders and one of low yielders, although we do rear the Guernsey calves separately until about six-months-old as we fi nd they need more care.
50 THE JOURNAL OCTOBER 2010
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