Lower vet costs and fewer stillbirths
with ProCROSS

A new report published this month has revealed that crossbred dairy cattle incur significantly lower veterinary and pharmaceutical costs and lower rates of stillbirth than the pure Holstein.

The findings were published in the Journal of Dairy Science (103:10917–10939, November 2020) and follow a succession of similar reports which have demonstrated that crossbred cattle have numerous other health and economic attributes compared with the purebred Holstein.

The trial which revealed this performance was carried out by the University of Minnesota over a period of 10 years. the study compares purebred Holstein (HO), with the performance of a two- and three-breed cross, based on the Holstein, Montbéliarde (MO) and VikingRed (VR).

These three breeds were found to be highly complementary, and so they have since been used in the development of a structured, three-way crossbreeding programme and marketed under the ProCROSS brand.

The report’s lead author, Dr Amy Hazel, worked with Professor Brad Heins and Professor Les Hansen throughout the trial, enrolling 3,550 Holsteins in 2008, which would be kept in their commercial herds and either be crossed or bred pure.

This effort made it the largest ever trial to assess the benefits of crossbreeding in a commercial situation and through such a highly structured breeding programme.

The study also investigated stillbirth rates and found the three-breed ProCROSS calves (born to two-breed crossbred dams) had half the stillbirth rate of their Holstein herdmates at first calving (4% vs 8%). Similarly, Holstein-sired calves from three-breed ProCROSS cows had lower stillbirth rates than pure Holsteins at first calving (4% vs 7%).

Lifespan was also longer in the crossbred cattle, with almost twice as many three-breed ProCROSS cows (41%) surviving to their fourth calving than their Holstein herdmates (22%).

Conformation was also measured across the cattle, with the three-breed ProCROSS found to have shorter stature, less angularity and more body condition than their Holstein herdmates.

“These traits could help explain the superior fertility [reported in a separate paper] and lower health treatment cost for the ProCROSS cattle,” said Dr Hazel.

Other conformation features found in the three-breed cross included wider rear teats and longer teat length – traits of growing importance in an era of robotic milking and as Holstein teats decline in length.

In fact, Dr Hazel observed: “The three-breed ProCROSS cattle have many of the traits sought by modern dairy producers, who find their cows have too much stature and angularity and lack the robustness of their forebears.”

Stéphane Fitamant, Managing Director for ProCROSS, concurred, and said: “These studies confirm our experience in the field where ProCROSS cattle are rapidly rising in popularity thanks to their ease of management alongside high health and welfare credentials.”