New Zealand landscapes are changing colour with a dash of VikingRed

On Three Leaf Farm on the South Island’s Canterbury Plains, Hayden Ferriman milks around 700 Holstein Friesian/Jersey crossbreed on a typical pasture-based system and says he had noticed a gradual decline in his herd’s fertility over a number of years.

He says: “We are happy with the health of the herd but always want to maintain and improve that, but fertility is the big one for us. We have acceptable levels – around 70 per cent six-week in calf rate and 10-12 per cent empty – but we want to improve.

“If we are sending cows out the gate because they are empty, that is a big cost to our business.”

Also concerned that the herd was declining in stature and capacity he had increased the use of black and white semen over the past two breeding seasons.

However, having worked on farms in Denmark before he set up his herd, he says that’s when the VikingReds on neighbouring farms ‘really caught my eye’.

“The owners of the farms could not speak highly enough about the fertility and inherent health of the Red breed and what robust and strong cows they were,” he says.

“I remember thinking at the time they would not be a bad cross to put over our New Zealand cows and now that Samen are bringing in VikingGenetics we have the opportunity to put that into practice.

Back in the Waikato, Richard Waugh milks 330 cows and has seen the effects of the VikingRed’s better hoof health in practice, having been using the three-way cross for around seven years.

He says: “I don’t think I’ve had a lame VikingRed. We probably get one or two lame cows a week but none of them are the Reds – I think the black hooves really help.”

The journey to the three-way cross began for Mr Waugh after he initially bred the Holstein-Friesian across his Jersey herd.

He says: “We got a wonderful animal but when we then put the Jersey across the first cross, we didn’t get the results we had hoped.

“We were scratching our heads but didn’t really want to go to the Holstein-Friesian as that would increase liveweight, so we decided to go for a third breed.”

Finally opting for the VikingRed, he says many are now fifth calvers which are still producing 750-800 kg milk solids per lactation – around 200 kg above the 550-560 kg herd average.

“On our spring herd test the herd averaged 2.4 [kg fat plus protein] doing 30 litres, and all bar a couple of the Reds were above herd average,” he says.

“The better cows were doing over 3 kg milk solids as three and four-year-olds but still giving 35 litres,” he says. “The efficiency of those animals is above both the Holstein-Friesians and the Jerseys as they can do the litres but still hold the percentages.”

Body conditions a huge advantage

He also notes the Reds hold their condition, potentially avoiding negative energy balance, improving fertility and helping maintain a tight calving block. This may also explain their lack of metabolic disease, and he notes: “I’ve only treated one VikingRed for milk fever which, on a high input system, is probably good going.

“They calve down and keep going and just hold their weight better than the Holstein-Friesians,” he says. “You can get your 305 days comfortably which is the main one for us – you need as many days in milk as you can find. Just the perfect animal really.”

The dairy levy board, Dairy Australia, along with the University of Melbourne has compared the performance of two-breed and three-breed crossbred herds.

Using data from nearly 7,000 cows with over 25,000 lactations on pasture-based farms, they found that compared to the two-way cross, the Holstein-Friesian/Jersey/Red cross showed significantly higher lifespan and better fertility:

• +4%-points in conception rate (1st service)
• +8%-points in six-week in-calf rate

The three-breed crossbreds showed no significant difference in volume of milk but outperformed the two-breed cross for milk solids production.