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Organic and efficient with ProCROSS

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Törlan Lantbruk started using ProCROSS in 2013. Bengt Svensson and Ulf Person wanted to keep a reduced nucleus of Holstein cows for pure breeding purposes but launched the ProCROSS concept on the other part of the herd to increase their profitability.

The change had profound effects, including allowing them to turn organic in 2017.

Törlan farm is well known in Sweden and is, in fact, the breeder of the well-known VikingHolstein bull by the same name. The farm continues to produce excellent bulls for the VikingGenetics VikingHolstein breeding programme and on the list of the 20 best NTM heifers in Sweden, four were born and bred at Törlan Lantbruk.

“We have always been interested in breeding, and we wanted the programme to have more focus on sustainability,” says Mr Svensson. “We found VikingRed to be a very healthy cow with good fertility and the Montbéliarde adds the robustness to the mix.”

The herd was designated the most productive organic herd in the Halland area (western Sweden) in 2019. Performance results include 200kg more milk and +0.1% higher fat from the ProCROSS than from the farm’s purebred cows. The farmers also noticed a one-month shorter calving interval for the ProCROSS cows.

Production and fertility are synonymous with profitability for a dairy farmer, and that is precisely what ProCROSS offers today.

For Montbéliarde bulls from Coopex, they have used Ilanne, Marley, Lelabel, Gonesse and Macoulange; and from the VikingReds they picked VR Lister, VR Ture, VR Loke and VR Vilperi as part of the three-way rotation with the VikingHolstein.

Törlan Lantbruk, Sweden:

  • 280 cows (75% ProCROSS/25% VikingHolstein)
  • Owned by Bengt Svensson and Ulf Person
  • Performance: 11,500 kg ECM, 4.2% fat / 3.4% prot
  • System: Organic
  • Age at first calving: 24 months
  • Calving interval: 12.2 months

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