VikingGenetics present in the 2017 Annual Meeting & Tour for Jersey in Costa Rica
The World Jersey Cattle Bureau is taking place in Central America this year. Jersey breeders from around the world gather in the 2017 Annual Meeting Tour, which is taking place in Costa Rica.
Genomic test on female and high prices of beef, keywords for success in Norway
Norwegian dairy producers from the Rogaland area participated in an informative meeting in Varhaug where our Export Manager, Peter Weinkouff explained more about VikingGenetics’ range of solutions when it comes to breeding for a healthy and profitable cow. He described how the combination in the use of GenVik and X-Vik semen could increase the profit in the Norwegian herds.
We celebrate our 10th anniversary of producing and selling sexed semen (X-Vik) this week in Assentoft, Denmark. We remembered the path we have walked and the many achieved goals after a decade of professional and enthusiastic teamwork.
Marketing of "VJ Hoeholt Leonel Messi" has stopped
VikingJersey/Danish Jersey announces today, April 26 2017, that marketing and sales of semen from VJ Messi (VJ Hoeholt Leonel Messi), stops immediately. Read the press release here.
New combination = excellent Health & Fertility - VJ James
VJ James is out of ”Hoeholt Zolt Zoe”, bred in the Hoeholt Jersey herd in Denmark. The herd has bred a number of excellent bulls for the VikingJersey program over the last years.
We would like to invite you to join a web based seminar about hoof health. We are going to give you some information on our unique hoof health index and how you can breed for better hoof health. You have also time to ask questions. The speaker in the webinar is Lars Nielsen, breeding manager in VikingGenetics. The webinar takes approximately half an hour.
"Genetics from Viking equal cows with long life expectancy"
The Danish farm Gaardsted Hojgaard I/S has 600 Holstein cows in their herd, and in 2016 they had nine (9!) cows with 100,000 kg milk in lifetime production. All the cows were daughters by Viking bulls.
VikingGenetics is the pioneer when it comes to breeding for Hoof Health. Our sires are reliably evaluated for 10 different hoof diseases and the Hoof Health index reduces lameness, improves longevity, and reduces costs for the dairymen and saves pain for the cows.
Torpet Farm - reaching goals with a new generation
As a child, Gustav Kämpe never thought he was going to be a farmer. He grew up surrounded by cows because his parents were dairy farmers, but seeing them work on the farm was not attractive to him. “I never wanted to do the hard work!” he admits and laughs.
Hoof disorders in dairy cattle cause lameness and a lot of pain and leads to large loss in production and early involuntary culling of cows. Lameness is a symptom of a very painful condition and an important welfare problem in modern dairy production
Jersey top bull VJ Quintana is named after the Colombian bike rider and mountain specialist Nairo Quintana. With VJ Quintana VikingGenetics also has a Quintana that made it to the top and win-ning the race! +27 NTM and a fantastic breeding profile.
At the latest index run published on 7 February, it is clear that VH River tops the NTM list and even with impressive +41. Overall, there is a high degree of stability of the indexes with the most obvious news being among the daughter proven bulls.
It is now time for VR Lazer sons. He might be the last VR sire to have as many as six sons in use. VR Lorenzo gNTM +28 is the best of them. He comes from Risto and Sanna Pernu, Finland, having VR Tuomi as maternal grand sire.
VikingGenetics bulls are green, no matter the colour
In the latest issue of VikingNews, you can read an article from Claes Johansson, one of the dairy farmers in the Viking area. He explains about the benefits of having genetics from Viking in his cows when he is going organic. That is just another evidence of the advantages you get when selecting for health.
VR Fenton’s rank is number 2 in Interbull evaluation of all RDC bulls across countries. His dam is an embryo from Viken in Sweden bought by Morten Hansen, Denmark
VikingGenetics is excited to announce the launch of their new subsidiary company in the United Kingdom. VikingGenetics UK will take over the operations of its former distributor ABA Viking.
VJ Lesten is bred in the Birkelygaard herd in Gesten, Denmark, one of the most successful breeders of VikingJersey bulls over the last couple of years, with bulls like VJ Libero, VJ Lago, VJ Role and now VJ Lesten, which is the first VJ Lurik son to be marketed.
VR
Elix is out of the same flush as the full brother VR Elux. The feet and leg
quality of Elix comes from great bone quality and perfect set of legs.
09.12.2016
05.12.2016
A whole package sire - VJ Haun
VJ Haun improves protein percentage, fertility, health and conformation. VJ Haun is out of the VJ Tester daughter no. 2181, from the Baungaard herd in Denmark.
The best daughter proven Holstein bull worldwide – VH Clark – is an excellent example. He is decreasing the frequency of digital dermatitis with 50 %. That is a lot of pain saved there!
This time we got quite a bit reranking because of several changes in evaluation models. The drop in NTM is easiest to define, in average -5.2 NTM units for sires that have been in use during last period
Today we get new proofs and our web will be updated one of the next days
01.11.2016
26.10.2016
Important improvements on NAV routine evaluation
The Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation (NAV) will introduce new calculation methods for next index run on 1st Nivember 2016 in order to have more accurate and reliable genomic prediction for VikingHolstein, VikingRed and VikingJersey.
The EuroGenomics Cooperative is recruiting its General Secretary
The position of General Secretary is a key one in the governance bodies of the EuroGenomics Cooperative. The person will work closely with the Management Board and especially the chairman based in Paris. Look at the job announcement to discover the missions, requested skills and experiences.
A VR Uudin son out of a different pedigree - VR Ultra
VR Ultra was born at Nötcenter Viken AB, Sweden. The dam, 3775 Bina, is an aver-age size cow, calving interval was 11 months and the average production has been 10,008 kg ECM.
Built on well-known
daughter proven bulls - VH Merica
VH Merica is bred in the
herd of Allan Kjær Simonsen in Denmark. VH Montee, sire of VH Merica, is still
a genomic bull but behind him are some of the well-known daughter proven bulls
like VH Mandel on a VH Bismark daughter. VH Merica is the only VH Montee son in
VikingGenetics.
Hoof health is an important issue in the dairy industry. Sore feet are painfull for the cow and will reduce income for the farmer. Nordic countries have collected data from hoof trimmers, and in 2011, hoof health was included in the Nordic Total Merit (NTM). Have a look at this cute movie about Rosa the cow - she will explain it for you. Enjoy!
Welcome to Agromek in Denmark - The biggest joint agricultural show in North Europe! Add the dates to your calendar now and join us there from Monday 28th November until Friday 2nd December 2016.
Reggae rhythms that make
you wanna dance! - VH Reggae
VH Reggae is born in the
herd of Flemming Petersen, Denmark. The same herd that has also bred the bulls
VH Sparky (VH Suarez) and the new top bull VH Brixton (Balisto).
ProCROSS - the only three-way dairy crossbreeding programme in the world to be underpinned by independent research - will be marketed in the UK by ABA Viking.
David Foot Limited owns three dairy herds in Dorset, southern UK. The family-owned business milks about 900 cows in total. Until 2015 they had only Holsteins, but then they started to think of other possibilities.
Farmers
of the year in Australia 2015 uses VikingRed
Toby, Lyn and Nick Leppin milk about 380 cows,
mainly VikingRed cows in Bena in South Gippsland, Australia. They have used
VikingRed for more than 30 years, when the first VikingRed (Swedish Red) bulls came
to Australia
In 2004 when Markku Aspila participated in a breeding course in Northern Savo, he heard people telling that embryo transfer will double the speed of genetic progress in the herd. He was a bit sceptic but decided to try some embryos too. Today he can agree what he heard over 10 years ago.
Crossbreeding with VR helps Argentine farmers lower production costs
The international over-production of milk and the consequent fall in prices are threatening dairy farmers all over the world. Argentina is of course not an exception, but its farmers are starting to see the advantage of crossbreeding their herd with VikingRed bulls.
El Trébol - the success story of Red Dairy Breed in Colombia
The El Trébol farm is located very near Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, with an altitude of 2700 meters above sea level. The owner is Felipe Calderón, who bought the farm in 1977. This is a story of how VikingRed breed was first introduced in Colombia.
Genomic breeding predicts milk production better than pedigree index
In his master thesis, Agronomist Christian Bengtsson shows that genomic breeding values for VikingRed in Sweden predict their future milk production better than a pedigree index.
Milk production has increased over time. But how much has to do with better genetics? A simple look at the statistics from milk recording in Sweden shows that it is quite a lot!
The Nordic Total Merit (NTM) it’s a decisive tool in Ladefogeds farm in Norager, Denmark, to optimize their whole business and have the best profit at the end.
We would like to invite you to take part in our online survey. Please use 10 minutes of your time to complete this survey about your experience with VikingGenetics.
The
first two months of the year 2016 have been very successful for the sales of VikingRed
X-Vik. The growth in Sweden has been highest; index 133 compared with last
year, in Finland 111 and Denmark, where the use so far has been highest, has
been stable.
VR Viper with gNTM +28 is a son out of VR Vilde (Valpas) x A Linné x Huseby. He is bred at Joakim Fjägers, Hedemora in Sweden. The dam to VR Viper, 74 Böna, is classified 84 points.
On 14-16 June, the world conference for the red breeds, IRDBF (International Red Dairy Breeds Federation) was held in Norway. The conference included many interesting topics combined with a tour to the bull station of Geno and a farm visit. There were participants from many countries around the world and many participants from Denmark, Sweden and Finland, which made the area of Viking well represented.
The Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation (NAV) has launched a new NAV Interbull Search page for bulls having Interbull evaluation on Nordic scale. With this page, it is easy to find the best bulls around the world.
During the last couple of years, there has been more emphasis on ET (Embryo Transfer) due to higher genetic progress by using top females for flushings. Alone in 2016 so far, VikingGenetics has made 120 flushings with good results on VikingHolstein, VikingJersey and VikingRed. VikingGenetics has embryo production centers in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
Apart from the usual conformation and management traits most countries select for, Viking sires have a long list of extra traits that if ignored, eat away your profit margins because of unwell cows.
Today we get new proofs and our web will be updated one of the next days
03.05.2016
02.05.2016
VIKINGHOLSTEINS – much more than a Holstein
In January, VikingGenetics Holstein breed coordinator, Claus Langdahl, visited VikingGenetics Australia and held presentations where both farmers and industry people attended. The title of the presentation was “Leaders are those with followers - 30 years of selection for health traits”.
Milking 1300 cows in organic milk production makes it important that your cows are working well. All cows that take extra time, are cows that you should not have in the herd. Henrik Larsson, herd manager, and Marie Gustafsson, responsible for breeding and insemination in the herd, explains all about the challenges and successes in the largest herd in Sweden. Breeding goal at Vadsbo Mjölk; an average sized cow, cows that take care of themselves and get pregnant easily.
New EuroGenomics Cooperative drives progress in bovine breeding
Seven key players of the bovine genetic improvement have established a European cooperative aimed at exchanging genomic data in Holstein breed, improving genomic evaluation techniques, and increasing the effectiveness of bovine breeding. The name of the organisation is: EuroGenomics Coöperative U.A..
Daan and Elna Landman’s dairy farm is in Tsitsikamma region in Eastern Cape in South Africa. The area is beautiful and lies between the Indian Ocean and a range of mountains that run parallel to the sea with large areas for grazing.
Only 6% difference in fertility between sexed and conventional doses
When a farmer want to decide the genter of the calf, he chooses sexed semen. Semen cells carrying either male or female genes, and when making a sexed dose, they are separated to provide the farmer with a calf of desired sex.
An open breeding programme - always with our farmers in focus
The foundation for the whole breeding programme are loyal members that use our best genetics on their best dairy cows to make the next generation of bulls and bull dams. This foundation is the basement and we have to protect it!
Skottorp farm is owned and run by Lars-Inge Gunnarsson and his family, and Monika Andersson is in charge of the herd. They have had high focus on easy calvings for many years and it has showed results. Continuous breeding for mastitis resistance has made the cell score of 720 high-producing cows to stay below 100,000! Constant focus on bulls with high NTM has made Skottorp one of the most important suppliers of bull calves to VikingGenetics.
Welcome to Landsskuet in Herning - The biggest agricultural show in North Europe! add the dates to your calendar now and join us there from Thursday 30th June until Saturday 2nd July 2016.
The world is changing. Earlier a few bulls gave a
lot of royalty to their owners, today many breeders share the royalty money,
and no single breeder gets a fortune!
VH Grafit (B Goldwyn x O-Man x BW Marshal) has been a great success both for farmers in Viking-Genetics’ home area as well as for farmers all around the world.
More live calves, less reproductive cost, a higher survival rate and a similar, even higher production. With these characteristics the first generation Montbeliarde and VikingRed crosses are more profitable than purebred Holstein cows, according to research at the University of Minnesota on 8 large-scale high performance dairy herds.
Norwegian dairy farmers prefer Holstein and Jersey
In Norway, the majority of the cows are the local red breed NRF. But more and more Norwegian dairy farmers prefer Holstein and Jersey cows in their herds.
Fiorenzo Albini in Italy is very happy with
VikingHolstein and ProCROSS in his herd of 65 cows. The new way of breeding
means less problems, better life - and higher income.
The most important change when a new hoof health
genetic evaluation was introduced in NAV in November 2015 is that the
reliability of hoof health breeding values for especially cows are markedly
improved.
VikingGenetics owns an increasing number of heifers from dairy breeds. We primarily buy heifers from herds that do not wish to do the flushing themselves - or from organic herds where it is not possible to flush. We do 2-3 flushings in heifers and maybe Ovum-Pick-Up to ensure higher amount of progeny. With genomic selection, the heifers are as important as the bulls, as they obtain the same reliability on their EBV.
Over the last years, GV AGRI Ltd, Bulgaria, has imported around 500 pregnant Holstein heifers every year from Denmark, to establish new Dairy farms in Bulgaria.
Bengt Svensson & Ulf Person own and run the Törlan herd in Sweden. They do cross breeding for a part of their Holstein top herd with VikingRed and Montbeliarde. This fits well to the conditions for the farm with much pasture. Besides the milk production, they also breed bullocks and lambs.
The genetic progess can be measured in many ways,
but for the cattle breeder high NTM for the newborn heifers is important since
it affects the bottom line in future.
Is the VikingHolstein cow like other Holstein cows in the world? In brief: no. The VikingHolstein cow is healthier, more fertile, calves easier and better for economy and longevity.
