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Dairy producer says crossbreeding program full of surprises Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Agri News staff writer
CRESCO, Iowa -- Jed Becker says calving on his rural Cresco dairy farm is like opening a Cracker Jack box: He never knows what he's going to get.
For years, his herd was all Holsteins, but he wanted to improve cow fertility. In 2003, he began crossbreeding by using a Jersey sire. Then he bred the Jersey-Holstein offspring with a Swedish Red sire.
That offspring was bred back to a Holstein sire. He's kept up the three-way continuous cross routine ever since. He currently has five Holstein cows, 20 Jersey-Holstein crosses, six Swedish Red-Jersey-Holstein crosses in their first lactation and two in their second lactation.
Crossbreeding Holsteins with new genetics offers the potential for greater calving ease, fewer stillbirths, higher fertility and better cow longevity. It can be particularly useful for graziers, because it can produce cows with traits that make them better suited to pasture. On the other hand, it usually means giving up some milk production, and probably pounds of butterfat and protein.
"As we look at crossbreeding, we're going to give up some (production) traits and we're going to get functional traits back," said Dale Thoreson, Iowa State University Extension livestock specialist. Thoreson helped lead a pasture walk hosted at Jed and Joyce Becker's farm June 17 to discuss crossbreeding. The Northeast Iowa Graziers are holding a series of pasture walks this summer supported by ISU Extension and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. |
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