%protein and fat versus kg fat and protein

[Headless chicken]

I have been v impressed with the pro cross we have, I think to to buy them we will have to go abroad. Hol x mont x viking red seems to be the favoured.

They seem to be the full package but buying a lorry load of them at reasonable money is unheard of. Another reason to go down the fleck route is they come with a very big price tag and people are fighting over them at that.

 

[Clay52]

I have been v impressed with the pro cross we have, I think to to buy them we will have to go abroad. Hol x mont x viking red seems to be the favoured.

My procross animals are the worst of the lot. You get the some good ones but too many that struggle to get above 15lt even as second lactation animals. Sure the health traits are ok but we are milking dairy cows here. They need some production.

 

[Clay52]

I will also add Monty’s can downtime’s suck the milk out of a cow. I don’t have that issue with viking reds but some Monty’s just don’t milk. I’ve had the weird thing of the good production 1st lactation Monty’s that come in looking nice for the second lactation and just give bigger all.

 

[Holsteinfriesian90]

I have been v impressed with the pro cross we have, I think to to buy them we will have to go abroad. Hol x mont x viking red seems to be the favoured.

Have your brown Swiss calved yet? They looked nice heifers.

 

[pappuller]

Have your brown Swiss calved yet? They looked nice heifers.

Yes all calved, one has come down 3/4
The 3 br swiss heifer calves have gone to @farmertom but they were dozy sods to get sucking. Yielding between 23 and 29 litres with a bit more to come I think. They are all coming to the robots but all 4 of them insisted on lying on the arm as soon as went under them for the first few milkings.
I will be pursuing the procross route for next years replacements, under strict instructions to not buy any more br swiss ic heifers from her who must be obeyed.

 

[pappuller]

My procross animals are the worst of the lot. You get the some good ones but too many that struggle to get above 15lt even as second lactation animals. Sure the health traits are ok but we are milking dairy cows here. They need some production.

I think there are procross and procross animals, mine as heifers have done 8500l and are touching 45 litres as second calvers. Our most recent 5 are averaging 27 l but were all under 2yrs at calving, as I said the place to go is Denmark yo buy where all the data has been collected over the years.

 

[More to life]

I think there are procross and procross animals, mine as heifers have done 8500l and are touching 45 litres as second calvers. Our most recent 5 are averaging 27 l but were all under 2yrs at calving, as I said the place to go is Denmark yo buy where all the data has been collected over the years.

Is 45l and 27l enough for you would have thought that's under working the robots

 

[Clay52]

I think there are procross and procross animals, mine as heifers have done 8500l and are touching 45 litres as second calvers. Our most recent 5 are averaging 27 l but were all under 2yrs at calving, as I said the place to go is Denmark yo buy where all the data has been collected over the years.

Yeah I have some good ones. Problem is too many low production ones. My Monty average ends up pretty close to Holstein’s as well. It’s becasue I’ve culled all the low ones out.

 

[AndooMooMoo]

have you any of your crosses milking yet? am using inch tarquin a bit at the min.would like to try chad but am relying on ai services so am limited a bit

No. My Hiltons at present are bulling heifers and heifer calves. I have just started serving cows and heifers with Chad.
I did use Lakemead Randolf a few years back and calved in 3 heifers. One gave 7500 in 305 days as heifer but didn't go in calf. Another one went in her 4th lactation after splitting her teat. She was cruising at 40 Ltrs at the time, looking well and fit for a good few more lactations. I still have one, she calved late May but didn't go in calve before the bull was pulled out. She has a straw of Fert+ in her at the moment. To be honest, I think the next cross back (25% Friesian) will hit the sweet spot for me, but I was happy enough with three 50% Friesians I have calved in.

 

[pappuller]

Is 45l and 27l enough for you would have thought that's under working the robots

They are fine at that, like to see heifers over 30 but I am conscious that hopefully other benefits will outweigh that slight loss of yield, we have never really had too many cows over 50 kg since been on the robots but run a very flat lactation curve so tend to see a sudden drop in yield towards drying off.

 

[The Agrarian]

I have used two crossbred Montbeliarde/Holstein bulls so far. In the instance of them serving Holsteins, the daughters which are therefore 25% monty are still too Holstein for me.

 

[The Agrarian]

Snapped a few quick shots this morning.

A stale montbeliarde heifer by Bourgeuil. If I could go back and use a bull in large numbers across the herd, it would be him. Love what he has left me.

A typical stale second calver MB by Calvin

A mid lact fourth calver 1st cross MB again by Valfin. Has slipped a month and a half over the four calves. I'm currently getting some calves from her Brown Swiss sweeper son sired by Huray.

And the old 8th calver fleckvieh. Low type sire, but the bag is still at hock level and the teats still pointing straight down, which surprises me. She's not pretty, but who cares? Eight year calving interval average is roughly dead on the year.

 

[Sparkymark]

My procross animals are the worst of the lot. You get the some good ones but too many that struggle to get above 15lt even as second lactation animals. Sure the health traits are ok but we are milking dairy cows here. They need some production.

I'm not sure where your going wrong with your monty crosses Clay, which bulls did you use?
I have plenty of Pro Cross cows peaking at 45-50 litres. My herd average is 8500 litres which i never got on Holsteins. Far more cows reach 4th lactation now.

 

[Sparkymark]

I have been v impressed with the pro cross we have, I think to to buy them we will have to go abroad. Hol x mont x viking red seems to be the favoured.

I may have surplus heifers eventually, had over 120 heifer calves so far this year, when 100 would be ample for replacements.

 

[Clay52]

I'm not sure where your going wrong with your monty crosses Clay, which bulls did you use?
I have plenty of Pro Cross cows peaking at 45-50 litres. My herd average is 8500 litres which i never got on Holsteins. Far more cows reach 4th lactation now.

People don’t seem to read my posts at all.

I’ve said I have some good ones, some have great production. Problem is I have a lot more very poor production ones than Holstein. I’m not alone, pretty much everyone I have talked to in real life has had the same experience. There is a real reason why cross breeding didn’t take off after the initial interest. They are not going to touch high genetic merit Holstein’s for production.

I used top bulls available at the time.
Urbaniste
Valfin
Crasat

Put it this way if our herd was all Monty crosses we wouldn’t have made it through our continuing low milk prices here.

 

[Headless chicken]

People don’t seem to read my posts at all.

I’ve said I have some good ones, some have great production. Problem is I have a lot more very poor production ones than Holstein. I’m not alone, pretty much everyone I have talked to in real life has had the same experience. There is a real reason why cross breeding didn’t take off after the initial interest. They are not going to touch high genetic merit Holstein’s for production.

I used top bulls available at the time.
Urbaniste
Valfin
Crasat

Put it this way if our herd was all Monty crosses we wouldn’t have made it through our continuing low milk prices here.

I think the most important thing is farming for your system and the results would show on your system that a Holstein is your best choice

 

[pappuller]

Two recently purchased br swiss heifers one pure the other 1stx to hol, pure giving 26l at 8 days calved and the cross giving 36l at 22 days.
Two first cross procross animals both to monty now 2nd calvers red and white giving 44l at 134 dim and the b &w giving 42l at 189 dim.