Best cow for seasonal spring calving

Llmmm

Member
Have jerseys at minute pure great cows highly fertile great feet good but this time of year get very thin especially heifers and lose condition would need to be buffer fed.Have first cross jersey holstein superb cows only problem is where to go from here have started using swedish red to keep size uniform has anyone been using this three way cross for some time.Have tried all breed and all have lameness issues except jersey or first cross
 
All pure jerseys here but only 400-420kg MS. Half my heifers calving from next year onwards will be F X with the plan being to serve them to Ayrshire and then back to jersey in a 3 way cross.

I accept that the the herd will never be as uniform again but I would like a bit more production from a more robust cow than the pure jersey.

I'll be keeping some jerseys pure for the time being so I could always revert to a pure herd if I decide a few years down the line that I've made a huge mistake.

What sort of production are you doing at the moment?
 

Llmmm

Member
All pure jerseys here but only 400-420kg MS. Half my heifers calving from next year onwards will be F X with the plan being to serve them to Ayrshire and then back to jersey in a 3 way cross.

I accept that the the herd will never be as uniform again but I would like a bit more production from a more robust cow than the pure jersey.

I'll be keeping some jerseys pure for the time being so I could always revert to a pure herd if I decide a few years down the line that I've made a huge mistake.

What sort of production are you doing at the moment?
 

Llmmm

Member
5500ltrs on mostly old permanent pasture 1 tonne comcentrate .4 protein 5 butterfat.However my worst crossbreds are better than best jerseys.I have noticed using a pure holstein bull with no friesian gives a better first cross animal by far
 

Llmmm

Member
5500ltrs on mostly old permanent pasture 1 tonne comcentrate .4 protein 5 butterfat.However my worst crossbreds are better than best jerseys.I have noticed using a pure holstein bull with no friesian gives a better first cross animal by far
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
we have some nice jx calving to their 2nd, good size, nice cows, sire gabys arrow, semex, he was +15 on stature, whils't we have used a lot of Friesian,when you start to think about payment by constituent content, you keep thinking jer!
took some nice shaped fr bull calves to mkt today £9 - £20, and they didn't look holstien, some jer bulls £10. so that's knocked the extra money from your calves advice on the head!
 

Llmmm

Member
we have some nice jx calving to their 2nd, good size, nice cows, sire gabys arrow, semex, he was +15 on stature, whils't we have used a lot of Friesian,when you start to think about payment by constituent content, you keep thinking jer!
took some nice shaped fr bull calves to mkt today £9 - £20, and they didn't look holstien, some jer bulls £10. so that's knocked the extra money from your calves advice on the head!
Be careful useing too much canadian or american jersey even though i use them you can end up with browm holsteins with poor health traits.I would always use dainish on american twice before going back to american to put size.Some of the best bulls ive used are american dainish cross.
 

Llmmm

Member
we have some nice jx calving to their 2nd, good size, nice cows, sire gabys arrow, semex, he was +15 on stature, whils't we have used a lot of Friesian,when you start to think about payment by constituent content, you keep thinking jer!
took some nice shaped fr bull calves to mkt today £9 - £20, and they didn't look holstien, some jer bulls £10. so that's knocked the extra money from your calves advice on the head!
Im the absence of cross breeding i think of the pure breeds jersey comes out on top for spring calving people seem to forget or ignore the poor returns from cull cows calves you only ever hear the good stories.What other breed can match the feet and legs of jersey
 

Clay52

Member
Location
Outer Space
Medium sized high health trait Holsteins.

Those that claim Holsteins have poor health traits are 10-15 years behind the times or are breeding using the wrong genetics. Too many people breed for high type and then claim Holsteins don’t have great health traits.

90% + incalf rates are achievable in a 6-7 week breeding with Holsteins. This and the Holstein breed is genetically marching forward at light speed compared to other breeds.

Jersey I would consider. Great animals but I would still go Holstein before them due to the size of the breeding program.
 

Llmmm

Member
Medium sized high health trait Holsteins.

Those that claim Holsteins have poor health traits are 10-15 years behind the times or are breeding using the wrong genetics. Too many people breed for high type and then claim Holsteins don’t have great health traits.

90% + incalf rates are achievable in a 6-7 week breeding with Holsteins. This and the Holstein breed is genetically marching forward at light speed compared to other breeds.

Jersey I would consider. Great animals but I would still go Holstein before them due to the size of the breeding program.
I accept your point as true it is possible to have a herd of holstein you talk about however it would take a lifetime of breeding to the right bulls to achieve this the feet issue remains with the holstein breed for walking long distances on roadways.
 

Clay52

Member
Location
Outer Space
I accept your point as true it is possible to have a herd of holstein you talk about however it would take a lifetime of breeding to the right bulls to achieve this the feet issue remains with the holstein breed for walking long distances on roadways.
It took less than 10 years to turn around the issues of Holstein fertility. In any case I haven’t seen the issues of feet you are talking about.

The Holsteins I’m talking about walk to paddocks over two kilometers away from the parlor.
 

Llmmm

Member
Well talk to any hoof trimmer and ask them cause i have asked many.I have also worked on several farms with holstein and british friesian cross. jerseys are in a different league when it comes to feet i petsonally think its down to there low body weight and solid black hooves
 

som farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
somerset
Im the absence of cross breeding i think of the pure breeds jersey comes out on top for spring calving people seem to forget or ignore the poor returns from cull cows calves you only ever hear the good stories.What other breed can match the feet and legs of jersey

if people are honest enough to admit it, there are plenty of holstiens coming back at around £300 cull, I wouldn't know any figures to compare, between breeds, of how many the knackermen take away. I will admit to having a 05
jersey cross come back at £845 through frome mkt, I still can't fully believe it.
 

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
We're originally a shorthorn, switched to friesains and one farm switched to Holstein, changed to spring block in 2000 and have used mostly nz Friesains and Jersey (USA , nz and some australian too) and have used some of the red breeds too , have found are 3/4 Friesain and 1/4 Jersey are the better cows and probably going to use more Jersey with the BF price being so good.
 

sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
Medium sized high health trait Holsteins.



90% + incalf rates are achievable in a 6-7 week breeding with Holsteins. .
Is this possible without a fully sync programme? And if hormone use it restricted what happens to the breeds so called fertility, guess it is still very different between farms/management.
 

dinderleat

Member
Location
Wells
IMG_2828.JPG

We milk crappy holsteins
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,290
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top