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with VikingGoldenCross?

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Choose VikingGoldenCross for your herd

Getting started with VikingGoldenCross is easy and you can see the benefits in just few generations.

The first step is to decide on a strategy, then contact your local distributor and make a plan. After that, it is crucial to stick to the plan because it takes time and patience to see the results.

  1. Decide to start crossbreeding
  2. Find your distributor
  3. Make a crossbreeding plan
  4. Stick to the plan

Your crossbreeding strategy

What does a VikingGoldenCross breeding system look like and how do you achieve it? This depends on what you are starting with and we will go through a few of the most common scenarios below.

If you already have Holstein x Jersey cross cows, then you are already 2/3 of the way into the programme. You simply pick 1–3 top VikingRed sires, depending on how you like to breed and the size of your herd, and mate them to your crossbred cows. If you only have pure Holstein, Jersey or Red cows and want to do VikingGoldenCross, then you pick what breed you want to start with.

It doesn't matter which breed you pick to start with, the only consideration would be the cow size. If you have very large Holsteins and want to dramatically reduce the size of the cows, then use VikingJersey. If you want to reduce size less dramatically use a VikingRed sire. If you want to start crossing your pure Jerseys, you should pick smaller stature Holstein sires with good calving ease traits.
A superior combination
When you combine the three breeds in a three-way continuous rotation you achieve steady and high heterosis effect, and inbreeding is not an issue as you are using a different breed in each mating. Continuing the systematic rotation of the three breeds in the mating plan, you can get the strong health effects of the three VikingGenetics breeds. 

Easy to manage

You need to use 3 different coloured ear tags:

  • Blue tag – VikingHolstein 
  • Orange tag – VikingRed 
  • Yellow tag – VikingJersey

Maintaining the correct rotation of breeds is easy

Here are some examples of the possible mating and tagging with different breeds:

 

  • A purebred Holstein cow is mated with a VikingRed sire. The heifer born should be marked with a yellow tag to indicate that it should always be mated with a VikingJersey sire to maintain the three breeds in her offspring. Her offspring are then tagged with blue tag to always be mated with VikingHolstein (reverting back to the original breed what you started with), and their offspring tagged with an orange ear tag to always be mated with VikingRed (second breed used originally) and the next generation should be then mated back to VikingJersey (third used breed) and the rotation carries on with the three breeds, in the same order, for future generations.
  • A purebred Jersey cow is mated with a VikingRed sire. The heifer born should be marked with a blue tag to indicate that it should always be mated with a VikingHolstein sire to maintain the three breeds in her offspring. Her offspring are then tagged with yellow tag to always be mated with VikingJersey (reverting back to the original breed what you started with), and their offspring tagged with an orange ear tag to always be mated with VikingRed (second breed used originally) and the next generation should be then mated back to VikingHolstein (third used breed) and the rotation carries on with the three breeds, in the same order, for future generations.
  • A purebred Red cow is mated with a VikingHolstein sire. The heifer born should be marked with a yellow tag to indicate that it should always be mated with a VikingJersey sire to maintain the three breeds in her offspring. Her offspring are then tagged with an orange tag to always be mated with VikingRed (reverting back to the original breed what you started with), and their offspring tagged with blue ear tag to always be mated with VikingHolstein (second breed used originally) and the next generation should be then mated back to VikingJersey (third used breed) and the rotation carries on with the three breeds, in the same order, for future generations.
  • Jersey x Holstein cross cow is mated with a VikingRed sire. The born heifer calf is now carrying the three breeds. The future mating should be then done with the original breed in the mix, which in this case in Holstein. Put a blue tag in its ear, so that for the rest of her life you know she needs to be mated to a VikingHolstein sire. If the original breed used was Jersey (Jersey x Holstein cross), then the calf would get a yellow ear tag and would be mated to a VikingJersey sire.

Tagging 

Simply tag the heifer calves with the coloured tag that identifies the breed she needs to be mated to. No matter who is managing and mating your cows at any time, they will know what breed of sire to mate with the cow to because of the tag colour.

The brighter coloured tags are used so the cow ID numbers you write on the tag with a permanent black marker are easy to read.

Alternative tagging method: Some farmers (usually large herds) have only the one coloured tag already pre-printed with ID numbers ready for the rush of heifer calves. This is also easy to work with as you just write a H (=VikingHolstein) J (=VikingJersey) or R (=VikingRed) after the ID Number with the permanent marker to show which breed she needs to be joined to in the rotation.

How to get started with VikingGoldenCross

In the video, you can learn more about how to get started with VikingGoldenCross and what you should expect when working with VikingGenetics. To achieve a true VikingGoldenCross herd takes time and is a journey to success. We are here to help and support you every step of the way.

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