ProCROSS cows improving the bottom line at Casal de
Quintanelas farm
The Casal de Quintanelas farm is located in Sintra,
Portugal and has been using the ProCROSS system since 2007. The farm has 370
ProCROSS cows and owner, Antonio Castanheria,
took over the farm after managing it for several years.
Bjørn Lyngholm bases his breeding work
on NTM at his farm near Gørding in Denmark. An enterprise that has now added a
bull, VJ Dandi, to its breeding programme.
The
highway leading from Iisalmi to Oulu in Finland divides the fields of Perkkiö
farm. The two robot barns, completed seven years ago, house a 130-head herd.
Last year, Satu and Tuomo Pulkka's fine herd produced 12,146 kg of milk (ECM).
We have taken a look at our sales figures for 2018 and found the most used sires in our export markets in 2018. They are all very good sires with excellent breeding profiles.
The couple behind
VR Wild: “NTM is what counts for us”
Nita and Jakob Gade have 385 Danish Red
cows on their Stakildgaard farm, and their breeding strategy links in NTM to
achieve the best possible end results.
Identifying genetic disorders with genomic testing
Genetic information will be published in the Nordic national cattle
databases in Finland, Denmark, and Sweden, and it is already available on all
bull profiles on VikingGenetics’ websites.
Sofia Muñoz is a district veterinarian based on the west coast of Sweden and employed by the Swedish Board of Agriculture - a government agency. She explains that they are not only responsible for border control and official tasks but are also active in both large and small animal practices.
In the last week of November,
VikingGenetics organized the Viking Open Days event including a visit to the Agromek
Expo. Guests all over the world attended the event.
The Rinnes have
a very clear picture of the genetic capabilities of their cows and using embryo
flushing for their best females makes perfect sense on their farm. In 2004, they
bought five embryos and got five heifer calves from them. To date, they have made
over 70 embryo transfers and produced over 40 calves from them.
"In our barn Mastitis is 1% in average, and we are happy with this"
Erik Dolby and
his wife Anne-Marie have been breeding for a medium sized cow at Fuglsøgaard
farm in Denmark and as a result of this strategy, they are now increasing
production while decreasing diseases in their herd.
Last
week Cooprinsem, VikingGenetics’ distributor in Chile, held their annual
Breakfast Event “Desayuno Lechero” with 250 invited customers. VikingGenetics is adding value to Cooprinsem´s offer to Chilean dairymen.
Total merit indexes like NTM (Nordic Total Merit), TPI, NM$ index, PLI, BPI, RZG among others are important genetic selection tools. The indexes differ by the traits covered and by the weight allocated to the specific traits
New weight in NTM to fulfill the future needs of dairy cows
The Nordic Total Merit (NTM) index is an excellent tool to detect the most profitable bulls and cows for dairy business with respect for the balance between production, cost reducing traits and health.
Last week VikingGenetics participated in an
International Milk Seminar organized by Cooperative Colanta in Medellín,
Colombia. Colanta is VikingGenetics’ distributor and the main Agricultural
Cooperative in Colombia.
Total merit indexes
like NTM (Nordic Total Merit), TPI, NM$ index, PLI, BPI among others are
important genetic selection tools. The indexes differ by the traits
covered and by the weight allocated to the specific traits
Few
weeks ago we hosted a group of Lithuanian visitors to Denmark. The farmers and
sales people from our distributor Gameta heard about VikingGenetics and our
breeding program and philosophy.
Interbull confirms high genetic level for VikingGenetics' bulls
The
International Bull Evaluation Service (Interbull) is a permanent subcommittee
of the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR). Interbull is the
worldwide network providing genetic information services for improvement of
livestock.
“We build our business on long-term relationships and
happy customers.”
VikingGenetics opened a
new subsidiary, this time in Germany. Rex A. Clausager, CEO of VikingGenetics
explains more about VikingGenetics’ plan with the settlement of VikingGenetics
Deutschland (VGDE) from mid-September 2018.
VikingGenetics
launches a third subsidiary, this time in Germany
VikingGenetics is
excited to announce the launch of a subsidiary company in Germany. VikingGenetics
Deutschland is, from today, operating with increased support and service level for
German dairymen as a part of planned growth to further develop dairy cattle
breeding in Germany.
French farmers pay record high prices for two VikingJersey heifers
In the 32nd edition of the French International SPACE Expo, two VikingJerseys caught a lot of interests from the French farmers. One of the heifers (VJ Mojn heifer) was sold for 6800 Euro – the highest price ever for a Danish Jersey heifer.
Evolution takes part in VikingJersey breeding programme
VikingGenetics and the French Artificial Insemination company, Evolution, yesterday signed a strategic partnership agreement to increase their collaboration regarding the Jersey cattle breeding population.
VikingDefenceTM is the proven solution to
breed healthy and high-producing cows. VikingDefence bulls are the top bulls in
our line-up for breeding daughters with good fertility and production plus a
natural defence against diseases.
ProCROSS cows are more efficient than pure Holsteins in converting feed into milk
Lisbon, Portugal. The ProCROSS conference “Lower feed costs – increase your profit” in Portugal has gathered farmers and journalists from the most progressive dairy markets in Europe. Participants were coming from Spain, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. The purpose of the two-day conference and farm visits was to officially launch the results of the latest trial from the University of Minnesota regarding feed efficiency on crossbred cows in the ProCROSS system.
VikingGenetics
invited some top sales people from two South American countries, Argentina and
Chile to Denmark, to participate in an intensive training about the Nordic
countries breeding goal.
Time for
fine-tuning at the organic farm Lövåsa in Sweden
Dag Arvidsson, the owner of Lövåsa farm, is an early adopter when it comes to new genetics, first buying embryos 20
years ago. “Two years ago I started to genomically test all females and use the
bottom 30% of the herd for beef. This is the fastest way to make genetic
progress in the herd,” he says.
Methane emissions release both energy and a potent greenhouse gas. VikingGenetics is conducting research with the aim of reducing methane emissions – not only to help the environment but also to improve dairy cow efficiency. Research into methane emissions has been pursued in parallel with research into feed efficiency.
ProCROSS, a successful
option in the dairy business worldwide
November 15, 1998 was the birth date of the
ProCross crossbreeding system in Oakdale, California. The three breeds were Holstein, VikingRed and
Montbeliarde. This would become the world unique university proven
crossbreeding programme known as ProCROSS.
After the milk crisis of 2015-2016, demand for milk on international markets eventually out-paced supply, and prices began to recover. This is the first market-driven growth period in Europe since the removal of production quotas.
The May proof run changed the bull rankings a bit and we are proud to present the new proofleaders for this index run; VH Cosmo, VR Filur and VJ Heavy.
Total merit indexes like NTM (Nordic Total Merit), NM$ index, TPI and NVI among others are important genetic selection tools. They combine the traits that are of economic importance for dairy business into one package. The indexes differ by the traits covered and by the weight allocated to the specific traits. NTM places 53% of the total weight on health and reproduction traits, 30% on production and 17% on Conformation and workability traits.
Oulton House Farm - Less diseases and higher production with ProCROSS
The Oulton
House Farm´s philosophy is plain and simple: get lots of milk from healthier
cows, as the manager of the farm, Sally Lea sums up. 10 years’
crossbreeding experience has shown them the path to achieve outstanding
results. The farm has 430 cows, and is owned by Arthur Palmer. It stands out
from the average performance of the herds in the United Kingdom for both health
and production.
Breeding for High Production with Low Use of Antibiotics is Possible
The dairy farmers in the Nordic countries clearly understand that breeding is a crucial part of ensuring a successful dairy business and just as important as finance, feeding and management.
Breeders honoured for breeding VikingGenetics top sires
On Tuesday 20th March the breeders of some of VikingGenetics best selling sires in the home markets were invited to a celebration event in the bull station in Assentoft, Denmark.
Hoekstra family from 300 Holstein cows to two dairies with more than 3000 ProCROSS cows
Kurt Hoekstra together with his brother Jack and his parents started to crossbreed their pure U.S. Holsteins and Jerseys with many different dairy breeds in Oakdale, California 19 years ago.
Latest scientific information at the Danish Cattle Conference 2018
Monday and Tuesday this week the Danish Cattle Conference 2018 took place in MCH Herning Kon-grescenter in Herning, Denmark, around 2000 people participated on the conference. This is an annual event offering the latest scientific information from the global cattle breeding industry on topics like health, finance, feed and management to rearing calves and beef breeds.
We have taken a look at our sales figures for 2017 and found the most used sires in our export markets in 2017. They are all very good sires with excellent breeding profiles.
Farmers are showing interest in using VikMate and genomic testing on heifers as tools to improve their herds in Norway. Export Manager Peter
Holm Weinkouff was recently in Norway visiting farmers and advising on VikMate.
It is quite common for women to be in charge of the breeding plan in dairy farms in Finland, one of the VikingGenetics countries. Women have been doing this for decades, and there is no reason for this to change.
New proofs came 6th February and the Nordic Cattle Genetic Evaluation (NAV) have added more females in the reference groups for all breeds for the traits female fertility, calving ease, birth index, general health, hoof health and longevity. This means higher reliability for these traits and therefore we see some rerankings of the bulls.
In December 2017 Interbull released the new breeding evaluations. Interbull lists confirm the outstanding genetic level for VikingHolstein, VikingRed and VikingJersey.
VikingGenetics at BCBC conference - Breeding as a tool to reduce the use of antibiotics
VikingGenetics is encouraging cattle breeding industry in UK to use breeding as an efficient tool
to reduce the use of antibiotics at BCBC conference in Telford. Head of Breeding at VikingGenetics, Lars
Nielsen, gave a presentation about the successful Scandinavian breeding programme.
NAV organised workshop to analyse the future of the dairy business
The price level of milk and meat, usage of sexed and beef semen, economic value of diseases and replacement rate were some of the topics that farmers, breed organisations and delegates from our three coops in the Nordic countries among others, analysed yesterday in Copenhagen.
As an
organic farm, Noltorp’s cows need to spend five months out on pasture and at
least 50% of their daily intake must be grass. The farm is located in an area with
plenty of natural pasture land and the soil is perfect for growing grass. The
farm is owned and managed by Anders and Marianne Jansson.
Our Export Manager Jan Andresen visited our distributor Lactis D.O.O. in Croatia just before Christmas. During the visit, Andresen had the opportunity to visit customers and see very good Viking progeny in the herds.
Swedish farmers inspiring international dairymen with VikingRed and ProCROSS
A group of
dairymen from the United Kingdom and Germany had a very busy trip to Halland in
Sweden last week. They were introduced to Swedish farmers using pure VikingRed
as well as ProCROSS, the only proven crossbreeding concept in the world, which
is using VikingRed, VikingHolstein and Montbeliarde in a three breed rotation
cross.
Embryo Flushing – VikingGenetics´ Best Females in Production
VikingEmbryo is our
solution to reduce the generation interval for females by producing offspring
from heifers. Here you will find an explanation of how our world-class program
is running dynamically to achieve genetic progress.
Finland,
the Nordic centre for embryo production and top heifers
As a forerunner of cattle breeding in Scandinavia, VikingGenetics
wants to stay in the frontline of cattle breeding development and is now putting
more emphasis on embryo technology, while implementing a new production
strategy.
Successful Hoof Health workshop with Polish farmers
Last week, VikingGenetics together with our distributor in Poland, P.H. KONRAD held a seminar for farmers to share knowledge about how to improve hoof health on dairy cattle. The main goal was to show that there are two important approaches to tackle hoof health diseases. Both approaches, Breeding and Management are important for cows’ welfare and farmers business.
VIP guests from Russia visited VikingGenetics in
Finland
On the 10th of November our bull station in Hollola, Finland hosted special visitors from Russia. The Russian dairy farming delegation was in Finland to learn more of the Finnish dairy production and know more of the VikingGenetics’ expertise in cattle breeding.
Søren Borchersen becomes a new Chairman at EuroGenomics Cooperative from
November 1st, 2017
VikingGenetics
is honored to have Søren Borchersen as a new Chairman of EuroGenomics and hopes
for continued fruitful cooperation among the members of the EuroGenomics
Cooperative.
VikingEmbryo 20th Anniversary celebrations were held on the
24th October in Jokioinen, Finland. The event was hosted by VikingGenetics,
Faba (The Finnish Animal Breeding Association) and Luke (Natural Resources
Institute Finland). Over 140 people attended the event. The celebratory day
went well and the long history of using embryos in cattle breeding commemorated
properly.
VikingDefence™ - WHO World Antibiotic Awareness Week 13.-19.11.2017
Yesterday, the World
Health Organization started World Antibiotic Awareness Week. The whole world is
turning its eyes to the issue of the rising use of antibiotics. Only with
joint efforts on a global scale, we can tackle this problem and avoid the
excess and vain use of antibiotics. Rising usage of antibiotics leads to more
bacteria that are medicine resistant and the treatment of different illnesses
becomes harder.
VikingDefence™ supports reduction of antibiotics
in dairy cattle breeding
VikingDefence™ reduces the risk of incidences of clinical diseases treated with antibiotics such as mastitis and digital dermatitis, among others, by selecting directly for actual diseases registered under the indexes: General Health, Hoof Health, and Udder Health.
The herd
of Niels Schmidt in Branderup, Denmark has been breeding for high NTM for 30
years and VH Grejs is the “icing on the cake” after their dedicated work. “Of
course, I am proud that VH Grejs is bred in our farm. In a way, this is the
icing on the cake after 30 years breeding work for me”, Niels says.
VikingGenetics
welcomed a group of 11 persons from South Africa last week to Denmark. Chris
Cloete and Johan Muller from our agent Genimex asked nine farmers to join the
group and see and hear more about our breeding and genetics. The group visited
both Holstein and Jersey herds and the head office in Assentoft so they could
see both top bulls and excellent cows and herds.
"The greatest virtue of
Viking cows is health in general terms"
John Brealey is the owner of SEAGRO de Costa Rica, VikingGenetics’ distributor in this Central American country. Last week, Brealey paid a visit to VikingGenetics in Skara together with his daughter, Elizabeth Brealey and the manager of SEAGRO, Hellen Cabezas. They wanted to learn more about VikingGenetics since they believe the VikingJersey has a lot potential to be marketed in Costa Rica where they have mostly grazing systems.
Breeders Behind The Viking Sires - VR Viljar & Kati and Ari Luukkonen
VR Viljar is an ET sire from Kuusela
farm in Finland. VR Viljar has a very balanced proof. He is high in
components, good in female fertility and excellent in udder health. Also the
type proofs are strong with good height and optimal body coordinates, great
feet and legs and remarkable udder. Viljar has travelled to Denmark to produce
X-Vik semen earlier this year.
VikingAcademy 2017 took place in Copenhagen, Denmark with participation of our network of international distributors. Our guests came from Spain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Holland, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Lithuania, Croatia, France, Czech Republic and Estonia. The managers of our subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Australia, our Export Managers and the members of VikingGenetics leading group also took part in the activity.
“Crossbreeding works very well in this country. We want productive, healthy and fertile cows and during the years with crossbreeding we have had very good results”, says Ajs Kirk when talking about his crossbreeding with VikingHolstein and VikingRed.
ProCROSS is a crossbreeding concept using Holstein, VikingRed and Montbeliarde breeds. ProCROSS is a breeding method managed by Coopex Montbéliarde and VikingGenetics. It’s the only scientifically proven crossbreeding program in the world.
Authorities from China did a VIP visit to VikingGenetics
VikingGenetics in Skara had the honor to host a delegation from China, led by Director-General Li Jianwei, General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), Department of Supervision of Animal and Plant Quarantine.
Last week, the genomic bulls VR Finduz (VR Fenton
x VR Cigar x Gunnastorp), VR Herbert (VR Hjusticia x VR Niki x R David) and VH
Fimpen (VH Foster x VH Grafit x VH Spex) got special attention when their breeders
got the opportunity to see how they live at VikingGenetics bull station in
Skara, Sweden