Highlights January 2012

ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

Claw management

‘Millionaire’ Paramount

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The ten year old Delta Paramount is CRV’s most sold bull worldwide. He recently produced his millionth straw of semen.

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Focus on management plays a key role in controlling claw health.

Important factors are regular trimming, sensible nutrition and comfortable housing amongst others.

HUNTER

Hunter is one of the highest available ManO-Man sons worldwide.

His family traces back to the famous Snow-NDenises Dellia.

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CRV bulls form the backbone of breeding for high lifetime productions

Top newcomers in Dutch ranking are CRV bulls The December index run yielded some fantastic results for CRV. The 11 highest newcomers to the black-and-white ranking of daughter proven bulls are all CRV bulls. With their health traits and production inheritance the black-and-white and red-and-white CRV-bulls prove that they form the backbone of breeding for high lifetime productions.

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he highest newcomer this index run is Oosterzicht Grand (+199 NVI). This son of Jefferson descends from the family of Impress and Improver. He was previously marketed internationally as an InSire bull and he is tested in both the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.

Grand transmits 362 days of longevity, a positive cell count (104) and 1,301kg of milk.

And he is suitable for use on maiden heifers (109 calving ease). With the productivity of his sire Jefferson and the health traits of his grandsire O-Man, Grand has the potential to breed cows that can achieve high lifetime productions.

Heuvel Emanuelson (+135 NVI) is a Jefferson son, like Grand. He is free of O-Man, Goldwyn and Shottle blood and he is half brother of the InSire bull Heuvel Suarez. Emanuel inherits a lot of milk (923kg) and very good frames (107) and udders (110).

Focused breeding with genomics bulls

The list of genomically tested bulls without daughters shows that these bulls improve traits very quickly. In this ranking Delta G-Force (308 NVI) stays above the magic mark of 300 points NVI. Production (1,124kg milk at 0.02% fat and 0.13%

protein), longevity (569 days), fertility (103), conformation (109), he has it all. This makes him the undisputed number one in the ranking, for the third time in a row.

A bull that does well in the Dutch, American and Canadian index is Cookiecutter Mom Hunter (+230 NVI). The conformation scores of this Man-O-Man son are world class, with frame (108) and udder (111) as highlights. On GPTAT, he scores 3.24. In Canada he is one of the highest Man-O-Man sons with 3267 GLPI. No wonder Hunter is used by CRV and other international AI companies as a sire of sons.

Another Man-O-Man son that impresses internationally is Lowlands Highlight (+223 NVI). He inherits 112 udder. He scores 2256 GTPI and 3.06 PTAT. His pedigree includes internationally recognised bulls, such as Leadman, Durham and Goldwyn.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 >

TOP CRV SIRES ON NVI Following the release of the December 2011 proofs, CRV’s top available sires ranked on NVI are: HOLSTEINS 1. G-Force NEW (InSire) 2. Suarez (InSire) 3. Atlantic (InSire) 4. Sunset NEW 5. Emerald (InSire) 6. Edison NEW (InSire) 7. O-Alexman (InSire) 8. Hunter (InSire) 9. Gofast (InSire) 10. Goli 11. Highlight NEW (InSire) 12. Gravity (InSire) 13. Big Winner 14. Cricket 15. Bluejay (InSire)

+308 +272 +256 +243 +239 +238 +233 +230 +228 +226 +223 +209 +208 +206 +205

RED HOLSTEINS (RED-AND-WHITE BASE)

VEETEELT

A daughter of Navarro, a feet and legs specialist

1. Glorious NEW (InSire) 2. Award RF (InSire) 3. Camion (InSire) 4. Fidelity 5. Kodak 6. Reality (InSire) 7. Spencer 8. Nearby RF 9. Benjamin (InSire) 10. Arnold

Glorious is CRV’s highest available red-and-white InSire bull

+255 +234 +223 +209 +208 +202 +201 +197 +195 +192

2 PROOF NEWS

HIGHLIGHTS ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Glorious bulls

The number two and three bulls in the red-and-white genomic rankings are both sired

by Nearby. This means Nearby is quickly becoming a solid sire of sons although he is still a young proven bull himself. Number three on the list is De Volmer Glorious (+255 NVI).

Glorious provides a lot of milk (1,193kg) and a high longevity (687 days), making him an ideal bull for high lifetime productions.

Another bull that fits this lifetime production profile is Fasna Asterix (+177 NVI). This internationally marketed InSire bull transmits +1,136kg milk, 429 days longevity and 110 calving ease. Based on the American Net Merit, he is the highest available polled bull.

Fidelity in first position twice

Delta Fidelity takes first place in the list of proven bulls. He’s been in the top of the redand-white rankings for more than three years and with this index run he takes the lead with +209 NVI. His milk inheritance rises slightly to 799kg and he maintains his high protein percentage (0.24%).

His son Delta Direct (+293 NVI) tops the red-and-white genomic rankings. Fidelity’s sire Kian now has 98,220 daughters in his Interbull proof and is still going strong with +151 NVI with high components (+0.49% fat, +0.27% protein) and strong (110) feet and legs (109 locomotion).

One of Kian’s daughters is Annet 3348, dam of AI Kampen’s Talentino (+153 NVI). Talentino got his first daughter proven breeding values and debutes with 112 conformation, 111 udder and a production proof with high protein (+0.15%).

Topspeed Kodak rose 19 points NVI and is now in second place right behind Fidelity, with +208 NVI. He is an example in terms of lifetime production, because he had a super score of 782 days longevity, his daughters are healthy (104 SCC, 107 hoof health) and he inherits a balanced production (579kg milk with 0.03% protein). Lowlands Klimmer (+175 NVI) does a good job in the rankings. Thanks to his daughters who perform well in the milking parlour (+378kg milk at 0.26% fat and 0.16% protein). His claw health score of 112 is unmatched. This is a nice combination of traits for high lifetime productions.

A daughter of Fidelity, number 1 daughter proven red-and-white bull

If you want to improve udder quality and udder health, you end up with Caps Sunset (+243 NVI). This Diamond son from the famous Goldwyn daughter Caps Mairy 4 inherits 109 somatic cell count and 114 udder. Delta Edison (+238 NVI, s. Peinzer Boy) is an absolute winner in longevity with +725 days. On the other management traits as cell count (106), fertility (102) and claw health (105), he scores good as well. Everything indicates that Edison daughters will get high lifetime productions without problems. Delta Edison is a grandson of Paramount, who produced more than one million straws.

Mascol sons strong in protein

In August, the first Mascol sons got daughter-proven breeding values, and they maintain their high levels this index run. Mascolzoon Delta Persuader (+181 NVI) increases his score on dairy strength from 104 to 107 and he has 110 feet and legs. He also transtmits a superior udder health (111 SCC). And also Mascol son Dome’s Navarro (+177 NVI) maintains his high marks. He is a feet and legs specialist with 113 for feet and legs and for locomotion.

Lifetime production specialists

Delta Malaga (+182 NVI), who descends from the same family as G-Force, is a prime example of a high lifetime production bull. This Jordan son increased his longevity score with 136 days to 636 days. He transmits +1,476kg milk.

Ralma O-Man Cricket (+206 NVI) is now a second-crop bull. He inherits 114 somatic cell count, 110 calving ease and lots of milk (+920kg), great traits for improving life time production. The biggest climber in the top 10 ranking of the black-and-white proven bulls is De-Su Oman Goli (+226 NVI). He also inherits good health characteristics (108 SCC) and excellent production (+873kg milk). In his American index he scores more than 2,000 TPI. Another fast riser in the rankings is Big Winner (+208 NVI, Win 395 x Lucky Leo). He rose 38 points NVI and with this, he breaks through the 200-point NVI line. He transmits high components (+0.39% fat, +0.16% protein), high longevity (+504 days), good fertility (103) and healthy hooves (103 hoof health).

Besides high production, longevity and good health features, a functional type also contributes to increasing the lifetime production. Sire of the heifer champion at the CRV Cow-Expo, Aurora Ormsby (+159 NVI) provides superb conformation. This highest ranked Shottle son rises two points in feet and legs, which makes his conformation profile: 110 frame, 108 dairy strength, 111 udder and 104 feet and legs, 112 total conformation.

Ormsby daughter Cobi 72, heifer champion at CRV Cow Expo

MRY

The first proof of newcomer Dos 4 (+97 NVI, Man 214 x Parole) is promising. His calves are born easily (103) and he transmits good udders (105) and feet and legs (105).

FOR DETAILED PROOF INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.GLOBAL.CRV4ALL.COM

COLUMN MORE INFORMATION MEANS BETTER DECISION-MAKING For dairy farmers, cows are the key factor in creating an income. How much milk the cows produce, how easily cows become pregnant and calve, their risk of contracting mastitis etcetera, all these factors are affected by genetics. So the bull and mating choices a farmer makes influence the type of cow he will have in his herd in a couple of years, and consequently impact on his income.

All selection and mating decisions are based on figures, breeding values. A breeding value is an estimate or indicator of the genetic potential of an animal. Breeding values calculated for bulls and cows are based on all the information we have available for a particular trait. We use measurements on animals, such as production and conformation, and combine this with information about other family members, like parents and offspring. By using all this data we obtain the best possible estimate with the highest possible reliability.

These calculations are carried out three times a year by the Animal Evaluation Unit of CRV, resulting in the release of new bull and cow proofs. The whole process from receiving the data from the database to publication takes four weeks. And every time it is very satisfying if all the figures are there in time. The bull list is published on internet.

On the Tuesday of publication there is a peak in the number of visitors on the website.

By looking at all the breeding values of bulls, we have been able to release more information on bulls for farmers in recent years, especially regarding health traits.

Twenty years ago the only breeding values available concerned production and conformation. Now we calculate breeding values for a range of traits like longevity, fertility, udder health, calving ease, milking speed, temperament and claw health. The claw health index was the latest new trait introduced by us. This index is based on claw scores collected by hoof trimmers. This new index makes it possible for farmers to select bulls that produce daughters who are less susceptible to all kind of claw disorders. And by selecting bulls based on the claw health index, their offspring can live longer, the farmer can reduce the time he spends on one cow so he has more time to devote to other matters and he earns a better income.

At the same time, CRV puts a lot of effort into improving information about fertility.

Currently, four traits are analysed: non return in 56 days, interval between calving and first insemination, interval between first and last insemination and calving interval. As you see: fertility cannot be measured using just a single trait as it has many aspects.

But the important thing for farmers is: as soon as he decides to inseminate a cow, he wants her pregnant. For this aspect, the breeding value interval between first and last insemination is a perfect figure. However, there are also farmers who focus more on a shorter calving interval or a calving interval of one year. In this case, farmers could select bulls based on breeding values for calving interval.

At the end of the line, the farmer wants the perfect, money-making cow but he also wants the cow which will enable money to be made in a reasonable amount of time and with pleasure.

Gerben de Jong, responsible for breeding value estimations at CRV

WIDE PORTFOLIO 3

HIGHLIGHTS ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

High-spirited Jocko son CRV’s most sold bull worldwide

‘Millionaire’ Paramount continues to be productive Delta Paramount recently produced his millionth straw of semen. Thanks to a combination of large quantities of milk, and strong udders and feet and legs, the popularity of this Jocko Besne son continues to be high, both in his native the Netherlands and abroad.

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e’s 10 years old and just a short time ago he was given the title ‘millionaire’. CRV celebrated the production of the millionth straw from Delta Paramount at the CRV Cow-Expo in Den Bosch in the Netherlands.

“That feels very special for us. Just compare it with how a dairy producer feels when he owns a 100-tonne cow,” says Wouter Steenhuis, unit manager for CRV in Giekerk. The production of the millionth dose is even more unusual, because a lot of sexed semen is sold from Paramount. More semen cells are needed for that than for ’conventional’ semen.

Despite his age, Paramount shows no signs of deterioration or slowing down. “We’d like a barn full of bulls just like him. He is not an extremely large bull, but he is just well put together. There is still nothing wrong with his libido. He delivers twice a week and never ever fails, whether it’s a morning, noon or night collection,” says Wouter. “That is very unusual at that age and he is perhaps like his father Jocko. He was pensioned off at the age of 17.”

Although the staff in Giekerk have been looking after Paramount for six years, they still have to be careful, according to Wouter. “Paramount is a high-spirited bull, a bull that you’ve always got to keep an eye on.”

SiryX straws

Now the daughters from the breeding period have calved in considerable numbers, many producers have used Paramount again. This year Paramount held fifth place in the list of CRV’s most used bulls in the Netherlands. For sexed semen he even scores a top three position.

“Since his debut, Paramount has always been in the top 10 of the bulls most in demand,” says Gert-Jan van de Bosch, marketing coordinator of CRV. “For a while he has been the bull most in demand. In any case Paramount is the bull from which we have sold the most SiryX sexed semen straws.”

Gert Jan doesn’t have to think for long about the reasons for his popularity. “Paramount is an old bull with modern figures. Just like Kian, he has also delivered the goods. With 99% reliability he continues to score highly for NVI and longevity. He produces cows with rockhard feet and legs, perfect udders and a lot of milk.”

Together Kian and Paramount produced more than two million doses of semen

Pop star

Paramount is also used a great deal outside the Netherlands. “For two years in a row he has undisputedly been the bull most sold abroad. In 2010 we sold a good 100,000 straws from Paramount,” says marketing assistant Eric Elbers. “We have exported his semen to 50 countries. Brazil and Germany are the biggest customers, followed by the US and Japan.”

He is particularly popular in Brazil, according to Eric. “After the Netherlands the most Paramount daughters are milked in Brazil. Manager of CRV Lagoa William Tabchoury says that Paramount is a pop star in Brazil. To begin with semen from Paramount was hardly available in Brazil. That scarcity created hype – everyone wanted to use it.”

PHOTO CONTEST In the September 2011 issue of Highlights we asked you to send us pictures of your favourite cows. This resulted in many nice pictures, like the one below with Dutch belted cows from the United States. Everyone who sent us a picture will receive the wide portfolio poster with all breeds CRV has a breeding programme for.

There is also a lot of demand in the South American country for SiryX sexed semen from Paramount. Eric attributes the popularity of the Jocko son to the type of cow that Paramount sires. “Paramount gives a cow with an average height, with a good udder, strong feet and legs and a lot of milk. That is precisely the type of cow that Brazilian producers are looking for.”

Pieter van Goor, head of CRV’s breeding programme, looked after him, as former Delta coordinator. “He was a fairly late Jocko son, but the best that there’s been. So he’s proof that a bull that you use later as a sire of sons can still provide good sons.”

Pieter sees characteristics of his mother’s as well as his father’s side. His mother Delta Heart (sire Fatal) is descended via Delta Priscilla (sire Jabot) and Mascot daughter Etazon Vienna from Art-Acres Cleitus Tex B. From the same family also come bulls Delta Sparta, Art-Acres Patron Spock and Art-Acres Win 395. “This family provided sturdy cows with strong bones and udders. You see that coming back clearly with Paramount. It was not such a milk-rich family, while Paramount passes on the capacity to produce a lot of milk. The contribution of Jocko in that respect has clearly been great.”

At the CRV Cow-Expo in Den Bosch, CRV presented two Paramount daughter groups.

Producers Bastiaan Vernooy and Arjan van Erp put the groups together. What characterises the Paramount daughters according to Bastiaan? “They are sound cows. They stay trim in spite of their high productivity. What is striking is that they are very uniform. In the frame you occasionally come across a rather lighter or heavier cow, but the Paramount daughters always have good udders and good feet and legs. They are cows that, in spite of their enormous production, don’t attract attention in the barn.”

CRV showed a group of Paramount maiden heifers and a group of second and third-calved daughters. “As maiden heifers, Paramount daughters are sometimes still a little hard,” Bastiaan says. “As they get older, they become rounded off, softer. The udders and feet and legs remain good, even into later life.” Bastiaan himself also milks a number of Paramount daughters. “They are perhaps not at all fancy, but in productivity they stand out. When you speak to other producers, you will never hear that they are lacking in production.”

Sire of sons

How his daughters perform is already known, but what about Paramount’s sons? CRV is testing 35 sons and meanwhile uses Paramount daughters as bull dams. In June 2008 CRV used his first son, in April 2010 the final one. It is expected that the oldest sons will get their first breeding values based on their daughters in 2012.

“Whether Paramount is successful as a sire of sons remains to be seen,” says Pieter. “It is certain in any case that he is an extremely valuable bull in our breeding programme. You don’t have many bulls like him. If as a producer you go for certainty, then Paramount is a good choice. You know precisely what you are getting.”

(This article was also published in CowManagement, December 2011 © Veeteelt)

4 HOME AND ABROAD

HIGHLIGHTS ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

Bulls in Russian Federation

CRV in Serbia

RUSSIA In the summer of 2011, CRV exported 6 bulls to our partner in the Russian

SERBIA Srdjan Aleksa has serious plans. He wants to expand his operation in Serbia into a dairy with 2,000 milking cows producing close to 60,000kg of milk every day. CRV genetics will help him achieve this goal.

The Serb Srdjan Aleksa is a progressive farmer and brims with enthusiasm! His cows are divided into three barns with different breeds like Fleckvieh and Holstein. The Holstein farm ‘Almex Agrar’ has to become the top farm. The barns on his farm are being remodelled in line with his clear objective “I would like to milk 2000 cows, producing at least 29kg of milk on an average day”. Recently he imported heifers from the Netherlands with pedigrees including Twister, Nevada, Grandprix, Fiction and Kian.

On the way to a yearly production of 10,000kg/cow Srdjan has inseminated his cows with CRV bulls like Paramount, Fiction and Alfons. The Serbian farmer also likes to use Canvas because of his incredible milk transmittance. Besides breeding for milk, the farm manager also pays attention to feet and legs and udders. As he quickly wants to expand the farm to 2000 cows, the best heifers are inseminated with sexed semen from Paramount.

For Sdrjan Aleksa and farm manager Tomik Ranko, welfare is of paramount importance. The cows are housed in a bedded pack housing system where the cows lay in straw and have plenty of space. The employees at the farm are also very well cared for. As Srdjan says: “Technical training of the staff is very important.” CRV’s dairy management consultant Fokko Tolsma supports Almex Agrar by training the employees.

Federation, OAO Moskovskoe. Currently 14 bulls from CRV are housed in Russia. Popular bulls, like Southland Manitas and Bonhill Amistar, whose semen is sold globally by CRV, now joined bulls like Delta Butembo and Mr. Kris. The export of bulls to the Russian Federation is part of the long term cooperation agreement between CRV and OAO Moskovskoe.

Amistar was one of the bulls exported to Russia

The cows at Srdjan Aleksa’s farm are housed in straw-bedded barns

Grassland alliance in New Zealand NEW ZEALAND A delegation of the National Cattle Breeding Centre (NCBC) from Ireland

paid a visit to New Zealand together with employees of CRV. NCBC and CRV cooperate in the so-called ‘Grassland Alliance’, a joint venture in terms of marketing, sale and breeding, but also in research and development. The purpose of the visit to New Zealand was to demonstrate CRV’s latest developments to the Irish delegation, but to also show them recent developments in the New Zealand dairy sector. This dairy sector consists of 11,735 dairy farms, with an average of 386 cows per farm. The average production in 2010 was 3,829kg of milk, with 190kg of fat and 144kg of protein. The joint interest of the Grassland Alliance are the grazing systems that are quite similar in New Zealand and Ireland. This means that cows are grazing most time of the year and extra feeding is limited. The trip also included a tour to some farms that used CRV bulls, such as Jersey bull Murmur and Holstein bull Hydraulic. Demand is huge for this bull in both Ireland and New Zealand.

A daughter of Hydraulic

Farm visit in Spain

DAIRY MANAGEMENT GUIDE At the beginning of December, Fokko Tolsma and Niek Vos (global sales and development) had the honour of handing over the first edition of the ‘Dairy Management Guide’ to Roald van Noort, CRV’s chairman of the executive board.

The Dairy Management Guide is the latest dairy consultancy product from CRV and is an expansion of the CRV dairy management training. “This management guide is unique,” said dairy consultant Fokko Tolsma.

“With so many pictures and no-nonsense information, this is an absolute addition to dairy management worldwide.”

The Dairy Management Guide was officially launched on December 20 at CRV’s head office in Arnhem, the Netherlands. More information on the Dairy Management Guide can be seen on page 8 in this edition of Highlights.

SPAIN CRV visited the Miguel Angel Saez farm in Talavera de la Reina, about 125km west of Madrid. The owner of the farm is also a representative for CRV Espana.

This dairy farm is home to approximately 240 cows that average a daily production of 42kg with 3.38% fat and 3.21% protein. Milk production is high with an average lactation level of 14,485kg. The average production in 305 days is 12,584kg and milking is done three times a day. The cows do very well and show great udders and very good feet and legs, which results in very few hoof problems. Despite the high production, the cows are only trimmed once per year. As well as proper housing management, the cows receive a balanced ration with high quality forage and added concentrates. This ration is fed once a day by a feed mixing wagon and tractor. The climate in the barns is ideal for cows, partly thanks to the height of 10.50 metres, but also due to the stalls with sand bedding. The whole barn is very spacious. For example, the walking alley behind the feeding rack is 5 metres wide.

CRV’s dairy consultant Mr. Fokko Tolsma provided training on this farm for 25 farmers and managers. The program included information on both dairy management and dairy genetics. The farm’s breeding goal was clear: improving production, with a good somatic cell count (currently 195,000). Often used sires in the past were Rafael, Canvas, Paramount, Adept, Marsh and Laurenzo. They now use sires like Yank, Hunter, Katana and Morazan.

A group of 25 farmers visited Miguel Angel Saez’s farm

HIGHLIGHTS ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

HOME AND ABROAD 5

29th European Simmental Federation Congress in Udine ITALIA This year’s congress of the European Simmental Federation (EVF) took place in Udine, a city in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Over 150 participants from around 15 countries took advantage of exchanging the latest information on Fleckvieh breeding and enjoyed the hospitality of Italy’s National Simmental Association, ANAPRI. A sire display was part of the program at the AI centre of Moruzzo

The main subject at the committee meeting was genomic selection with progress reports from several member countries. In this context, the new European project (Gene2Farm) was presented. This project aims at providing smaller Fleckvieh populations within the EVF with the opportunity to take part in that new technology as well. While the system is currently being tested in Bavaria, it is already in use in the Czech Republic, and Hungary has also decided to adopt it.

An application to use “Simmental-Fleckvieh” as the breed’s official name was submitted to the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR). The EVF standard was handed over to the Slovene delegation as the organiser of the next EVF congress. This congress will take place in September 2013.

Within the scope of an interesting convention programme, the participants visited two dairy farms and attended two shows. The Bianchini brothers of Talmassons, Udine, milk 79 Pezzata Rossa (Simmental-Fleckvieh) cows that are housed in a free-stall barn and average 7,219kg of milk with 3.90% fat and 3.47% protein. A very well managed agricultural test operation, Marianis-Volpares farms a total of 610 hectares, houses 730 heads of Fleckvieh, and is located close to the Laguna di Marano. At a very well organised show at that farm, around 30 locally selected Pezzata Rossa cows from the Italian breeding programme were presented to an international panel of judges. Also on the agenda was not only a sire parade of almost 20 Fleckvieh bulls at the AI stud Moruzzo near Udine, but also a visit to the outstanding “Südtiroler Landes-Fleckviehschau”, a show organised on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of South Tyrol’s Association of Simmental-Pezzata Rossa Breeders.

In 2012, the World Simmental Fleckvieh Federation Congress takes place from September 19th to 25th in Landshut/Munich, Germany.

For detailed information please visit www.wsffcongress2012.de.

CRV Cow-Expo

UMUH in the Netherlands

The Netherlands Last October, CRV organised the CRV Cow Expo in the south of

The Netherlands Last August, the Croatian Holstein association (UMUH) arrived with

the Netherlands. Besides an individual dairy show, there were also progeny groups from renowned sires like Paramount, Kian, Spencer and Ideal. In addition, four sires made their debut with a progeny group – namely Navarro, Ormsby, Klimmer and Morazan. CRV’s international guests from Denmark, Spain, South Africa, Iran, Chile and more countries enjoyed a day with very good cows and a pleasant atmosphere. The groups with different crossbreeds and MRIJ-cows were also worthwhile. A great day with one extra surprise: Delta Paramount was acclaimed as CRV’s ninth millionaire. The 10 year old Jocko son produced more than 1,000,000 doses of which many were also sold outside the Netherlands. Go to http://global.crv4all.com for more information on all sires.

A group photo of some of CRV’s international guests

two groups of 35 dairy farmers for a diverse programme. Their goal was to get an impression of the Dutch dairy sector. For both groups, CRV organised a day with a presentation and two farm visits. The Knoef family farm (home of sire Big Winner) was visited in the morning and the effect on breeding based on longevity was made clear once again. At that time, a total of nine cows in the herd had produced more than 100,000kg of milk. After lunch the Kraaijeveld farm was visited in Ommen. The Kraaijeveld family showed their beautiful herd with very good udders and strong feet and legs.

After this visit to the Netherlands, CRV paid a visit to Croatia to provide training together with the Croatian breeding organisation CRSH. Both a theoretical and practical programme was arranged for a large group of Croatian Holstein enthusiasts to prepare their cows for dairy shows. The training, which included clipping, washing and presentation of the animal was very successful.

The dairy show training was enjoyed by many Croatian farmers

Kian daughter Ida national champion of Poland POLAND Ida (4th lactation) became general champion of the Polish cattle exhibition Szepietowo 2011. A total of about 150 cows competed in this annual dairy show. The achievement of becoming general champion is even more unique because she is the first red-and-white general champion in the history of Poland. With a production of 9908kg of milk with 4.4% fat and 3.73% protein she is a very good producer on the farm run by Zalewska Sławomira.

It was not the first time Ida was successful – she gained good results at both regional and national shows in Poland already as an in-calf heifer and first lactation heifer.

The first insemination results with semen of Canvas, Olympic and Kian are very positive.

In the autumn the farmer wants to use CRV’s SireMatch mating program to select the bulls he is going to use in the future.

Kian daughter Ida is successful in Poland

6 COW MANAGEMENT

HIGHLIGHTS ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

Management PLAYS a major role in disease control

Focus on management to control claw diseases Claw diseases have been discussed in a previous issue of Highlights and can be classed as non-infectious and infectious diseases. Non-infectious include laminitis and the symptoms are a buckled toe, sole ulcer, white line disease, sole haemorrhage and double soles. Infectious diseases are digital dermatitis, interdigital dermatitis (heelhorn erosion, slurry heel) and interdigital phlegmon (foul in the foot). Digital and interdigital dermatitis are also contagious diseases.

CLAW HEALTH SERIES CRV pays attention to issues around claw health in a series of four articles.

1: Five steps of hoof trimming 2: Important bacterial diseases 3: Laminitis 4: Management issues around claw health (part 1 of 2)

C

law diseases can be controlled partially by regular trimming, but daily management of the dairy herd is even more important. Hoof care consists of: sensible nutrition, comfortable housing, good calving conditions, a thorough foot bathing policy, and regular foot trimming.

Laminitis – an occupational disease

Looking at non-infectious diseases (laminitis), there are many managements factors that can influence this and these can also be related. The causes are multifactorial. It is not just the one factor causing laminitis, they support each other starting with the milk yield. The higher the milk yield the more pressure on management. With a high milk yield, management factors are usually and reasonably in balance. Nutrition has to be balanced and housing conditions have to be up to standard. Also calving, with all the changes the cow has to experience, will have to be problem free.

Nutrition and feeding

Nutrition – both pre and post calving – is also very important. The cow is a ruminant and so the rumen has to be functioning efficiently. This means that forage has to be of top quality. This starts with the crop in the field and after that the cutting stage of

grass (dry matter and fibre content) or maize (chop length, cob filling and ripening stage) influences its passage through the rumen.

Concentrate feeding both before and after calving should also be given close attention.

Too much before calving (steaming up) creates a real danger of developing laminitis. Too fast and too much after calving also causes laminitis. Concentrate feeding rates between one and two weeks before calving should be no more than 2kg. After calving the concentrate should be gradually increased to a maximum during a two-tothree-week period.

The cows may be suffering from a negative energy balance (NEB) about two weeks before calving to between two or three months after calving. Try to minimise this NEB as quickly as possible, because this can cause displaced abomasum or diarrhea.

Also rumen acidosis and SARA (sub acute rumen acidosis) will be another effect of too much concentrate.

The forage-to-concentrate ration should be 1:2 or at least 40% of the ration should be forage. Sudden changes in ration should not be made, because the rumen has to adapt to the different ration and conditions gradually.

The way cows are fed should also be given close attention. TMR feeders are used on many units and can damage or shorten the fibre in the forage. The greater the quantity of feed the TMR wagon has to mix, the longer the mixing will take and this increases the risk of damage to the fibres in the ration. Poor quality feed can result in toxins and histamines causing squeezing and/or thrombosis in the capillaries of the corium and makes the capillaries to burst (sole haemorrhage and sole ulcer, for example).

Last but not least is water availability and quality. Water troughs have to be easily accessible and contain clean, fresh water.

Calving or parturition

Calving in combination with nutrition is important as described above. Other influences of calving are difficult calving (breeding and/or condition around calving).

Difficult calving often goes with a difficult start to the following lactation. Retained cleansings and mastitis can have a huge impact on laminitis too. Bacterial infection and poor quality (mouldy) feed can result in endotoxins and histamines.

Housing and cow comfort

Trimming cows’ feet should be done between six and eight weeks prior to calving

Housing conditions are increasingly important now that more cows are housed than in the past. Sometimes cows are still grazed, but in most cases cows stay inside the whole year round. High yielding cows should be viewed and treated like top athletes – they need extremely good husbandry. And cow comfort is the key word here. Look at space and escape routes in housing, so that less dominant cows can get away from the bullies. Ensure that there are no dead ends in the housing or close

Cows should be able to lie down for between 12 and 14 hours per day

to drinking troughs. And make sure that there is plenty of space at the feed barrier.

When cows are eating (foraging) other cows should be able to easily pass both ways behind them.

Standing times over the day should be minimised. Cubicle or stall comfort is important here, as well as the time that milking takes. Cubicle or stall comfort is influenced by the length and width of the cubicles, but also the neck rail and head rail height. These should not limit the cow’s natural movements when she is lying down and standing up. With the neck rail it is important that the cow can stand comfortably in the cubicle and the head opening (head rail height) has to be big enough for the cow to lunge forward.

Milking time and collecting yard are another point of attention. Lengthy milking times means that the cows are standing for too long. A cramped collecting yard will also cause a lot of distress to the cows.

Sharp turns, such as those often found on parlour exits, will damage the claws (white line disease). So flooring is also a point of attention.

Floors have to be smooth and even. No holes or ridges in the concrete and no slippery or excessively abrasive floors.

Rubber flooring, either complete or partial, can result in fewer lesions. Fresh air, and dry and clean floors are also important. So good ventilation and manure scraping is vital. Stocking rate is also important. Under stocking is rare, but over stocking is more typical. Ideally, every cow should have sufficient feeding space and lying space.

Breeding and young stock rearing

Breeding and young stock rearing should be another focus area. Breeding improvements can be made for feet and legs. Leg posture side view (sickle, strait)

and rear view (hocked) will give information on the use of legs and longevity of the cow. The same applies to claw quality, although this is a trait that’s difficult to judge with sires. It will be a trait in the future that should be able to offer more information on the susceptibility of an animal to claw diseases. Don’t breed from cows with poor feet and legs. Young stock rearing is the most costly part of claw diseases (culling), but it is also important to take care of your young stock to give them a chance to develop body capacity (growth rate).

Overburdening of claws

Often there is an imbalance in weight bearing of the claws, mainly in the rear legs but it can also occur in the front legs.

In the rear legs the imbalance occurs mainly by overburdening of the rear outer claw. This will cause the most problems around calving, so trimming cows’ feet is advised and this should be done at drying off – between six and eight weeks prior to calving. Overburdening will result in extra pressure on the corium of the rear outer claw and bruise the soles (sole haemorrhage, sole ulcer).

Prevention of laminitis is almost impossible, but should be kept on an acceptable level (no lameness). Because of the risk of calving and the need for milk yield the cow is very likely to run into laminitis. (occupational disease of the dairy cow).

Infectious diseases other than claw diseases

Other herd diseases, like IBR, BVD and Johne’s disease, can reduce the resistance of the herd to claw diseases and have an influence on laminitis too. It is never been proven, but it is accepted as an important factor behind many health problems.

SIRE SPECIAL 7

HIGHLIGHTS ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

H I GH L IGHTS ENGLISH EDI TI O N • J ANUARY 2011

CRV’s TPI breeding programme grand success

Hunt for high profits with Hunter In 2008 CRV started a TPI-based Holstein breeding programme in the US. In the meantime, the first bulls are now available on the market. And this programme has turned out to be one big success story, with the sky-high GPTI score of Hunter being the icing on the cake.

T

he TPI-based Holstein breeding programme in the US started small with Dutch breeding specialists flying to the US to search for interesting cows and young stock to contract, as well as bulls to buy.

Armed with a list of the best animals of the US Holstein population, breeding specialist Jaap Brinkman went on his first ‘selection trip’ in the autumn of 2008.

PEDIGREE OF COOKIECUTTER MOM HUNTER

SNOW-N DENISES DELLIA EX 95 (s. Chief Mark) REGANCREST ELTON DISRAEL VG 88 (s. Bell Elton) LONG-HAVEN RUDOLPH DEE EX 90 (s. Rudolph) REGANCREST JDV HANNA EX 90 (s. Hershel) MS KNGS-RNSM CHAMP HALEY EX 90 (s. Champion) COOKIECUTTER GLD HOLLER VG 88 (s. Goldwyn) COOKIECUTTER SHTHOLLERWOOD VG 85 (s. Shottle) HUNTER (s. Man-O-Man)

Pretty soon he arrived at the farm of John and Denise Dickinson in New York. They are the owners of the Quiet Brook Holsteins dairy herd. Their commercial herd consisted of more than 700 cows. Denise was very interested in breeding and found partners in Kyle Getty and Philip Wilson to invest in great genetics. The name they use for their co-op is Cookiecutter Holsteins. They invested in some very interesting embryos from one of the world’s greatest cow families worldwide, the Dellia family. From this embryo Cookiecutter GLD Holler was born.

Holler became a very impressive cow. At three years of age she was classified VG 88 with an EX udder. With this score she completed nine generations of EX uddered animals. She is an extreme milk producer as well with more than 15,000kg of milk in 305 days. Her conformation is very complete resulting in VG88 points. Due to these great results, all AI companies want to work with her and therefore, she is heavily contracted.

High ranked dam

But luckily there were some other impressive Dellia family members besides Holler in the Cookiecutter barns. Denise told Jaap Brinkman, she had a Shottle calf out of Holler of only a few months old.

This was all just before genomics started to come up. Although this

Cookiecutter GLD Holler VG88 grandam of Hunter

calf wasn’t one of the first Shottle descendents Brinkman decided to contract the calf. When the calf became older and the genomic tests became available, this Cookiecutter Hollerwood was tested. She turned out to have the highest GTPI score of all tested Shottle offspring and kept this position for quite some time.

On Brinkman’s next trip to the US, Hollerwood was old enough to be flushed so Jaap visited the Cookiecutter barns to see how Hollerwood had developed and what bull would be a good match for her. Hollerwood had become a heifer with a lot of dairyness.

At that time, Man-O-Man began to gain popularity and had just become a mating sire for CRV. It was decided Man-O-Man was a good match for her. She was flushed and this resulted in four calves, two being male and two being female. The bull calves were genomically tested. One tested good, and the other one tested absolutely great. This was her oldest descendent, Hunter.

Cookiecutter Mom Hunter

COOKIECUTTER MOM HUNTER (Man-O-Man x Shottle x Goldwyn)

PRODUCTION

REL. 79 %

2416 GTPI DAUGHTERS 0

HERDS 0

LBS. MILK

% FAT

% PROTEIN

LBS. FAT

LBS. PROTEIN

NM $

FM $

1807

+0.05

+0.05

80

67

756

698

SCS

DAUGHT. PG RATE

2.77

0.3

Hunting time

In August 2011 Hunter’s first official genomic breeding figures were published and his results were stunning. He showed to be a tremendous improver for milk production with breed leading components in the US. Hunter has continued the legacy of his father Man-O-Man as a tremendous component improver and promises to add profitability to every daughter he produces.

With these figures he became the highest available Man-O-Man son worldwide straight away. So, if you are hunting for profitable cows, Hunter is the sire to use.

FUNCTIONAL TRAITS

CALVING EASE

M. CALVING EASE

6

6

PROD. LIFE

4.9

CONFORMATION

REL. 76 %

SIRE STILLBIRTH DAUGHT. STILLBIRTH

7.9

6.2

DAUGHTERS 0

HERDS 0

FRAME DAIRY STRENGTH UDDER FEET & LEGS PTAT

2.77 2.66 2.17 2.52 3.24

STATURE STRENGTH BODY DEPTH ANGULARITY CONDITION SCORE RUMP ANGLE RUMP WIDTH REAR LEGS REAR REAR LEGS SIDE FOOT ANGLE FEET AND LEGS FORE UDDER ATTACHMENT REAR UDDER HEIGHT CENTRAL LIGAMENT UDDER DEPTH FRONT TEAT PLACEMENT REAR TEAT PLACEMENT TEAT LENGTH

3.42 1.95 2.21 2.85 — 0.87 2.38 2.40 -0.02 2.87 2.77 2.14 3.50 2.34 1.82 1.54 1.58 1.17

-3

-2

The Dellia family in a nutshell

-1

0

+1

+2

+3

Hunter’s family traces back to the legendary Snow-N-Denises Dellia. She is the seventh dam of Hunter and brood cow of the Dellia family. Her pedigree consists of Chief Mark and Bell – a golden cross combination. Mark represents a lot of capacity and good udders and Bell was one of the best feet and legs transmitters of the breed at that time.

As a heifer Dellia was already classified VG89. During her first lactation, Frank Regan from Regancrest Farm tried to buy her from her breeder Bob Snow from Sparta, Wisconsin in the US. He didn’t succeed until Dellia was four years old and had already won numerous prizes. Eventually she was classified EX95. Patriarch Dellia died in 2001 at the age of 15.

She has become one of the best brood cows ever. During her life she produced several world famous bulls like Dante, Dundee, Empire and, above all, Elton Durham.

She and her family members are known all over the world. And all over the world bulls of his family are used, like Durham, Derry, Damion, Mac, and Million in America, Empire in Spain, Britt in Italy, Dolman and Re Design and Dundee in Canada. And, of course, Hunter, from CRV’s US-based breeding programme.

8 TRAIT LEADERS

HIGHLIGHTS ENGLISH EDITION JANUARY 2012

FOR COMPLETE PROOF INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.GLOBAL.CRV4ALL.COM

KG MILK

% FAT

LONGEVITY

% PROTEIN

LASS PREDESTINE • OMEN NITRO FLOYD

+2268 +2138 +1940 +1897 +1755

GO-AHEAD BONANZA • MONTANA BIG WINNER PENTAGON NEW

+0.59 +0.55 +0.42 +0.39 +0.39

BONANZA • JAG SET UP LOGAN GO-AHEAD

+0.35 +0.27 +0.26 +0.23 +0.21

ATLANTIC • GRAVITY • EDISON N • RASH • MALAGA

LILAC LEOLA LINCOLN

+2147 +1618 +1396

KIAN BENJAMIN • ALMIGHTY

+0.49 +0.34 +0.29

BENJAMIN • SPENCER KIAN

+0.38 +0.28 +0.27

KODAK +782 GLORIOUS • NEW +687 +667 AWARD RF •

FEET & LEGS

FRAME

+782 +747 +725 +639 +636

OMEN LASS CRICKET G-FORCE • GRAND N

+114 +110 +110 +109 +109

BREWSTER • SUNSET • NEW MORAZAN BRONSON MAZURKA

KODAK FICTION RF ASTERIX P •

+111 +110 +110

CLASSIC +112 TALENTINO NEW +111 IDEAL +111

FERTILITY

UDDER HEALTH

UDDER

CALVING EASE

HOOF HEALTH

NAVARRO EDISON • NEW BUTEMBO IMPROVER PARAMOUNT

+113 +110 +110 +109 +109

HIGHLIGHT • NEW +116 CRICKET +111 +110 ORMSBY NEW ELMO +110 NESBITT +110

CRICKET AWARD • ATLANTIC • FRANCHISE GUNFIRE

+111 +110 +108 +108 +109

GRAVITY • AWARD • G-FORCE SUAREZ STRIDER NEW

+105 +104 +103 +103 +103

NAVARRO NANO SURPRISE DUKE LACEY

+109 +109 +107 +107 +106

MANIAC FIDELITY KYLIAN

+113 +112 +112

CLASSIC TWISTER LILAC

AWARD RF • MANIAC CAMION •

+108 +106 +105

SPENCER ARNOLD TWISTER

+106 +104 +103

KLIMMER TACO MANIAC

+112 +110 +109

+111 +111 +110

+115 +114 +113 +113 +113

Sires marked with a dot • are InSire sires.

InSire sires are genomically selected.

Improve your on-farm management now!

CRV Dairy Management Guide The Dairy Management Guide was developed for dairy farmers worldwide providing information to simplify and improve many dairy farm processes. The practical information is supported by many useful tips, calculations and clear figures to make reading easy. Business Unit Global Sales and Development worked out this collection of ‘dairy farming knowledge’ together with CRV’s dairy management consultant, Mr. Fokko Tolsma, using his years of experience and many of his unique pictures from dairy farms all around the world.

REPRODUCTIO MANAGEMENTN

YOUNG STOCK MANAGEMENT

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• • • • • • • • • •

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Young stock management Reproduction management Breeding management Feeding management Health management Udder health management Hoof health management Milking systems Housing management Dairy farm economics

UDDER HEALTH MANAGEMENT

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Highlights is a publication of CRV BV. CRV is a Dutch-Flemish farmers co-operative with six business units (Global Sales & Development, Central Europe, Oceania, North America, South America and Western Europe).

Highlights is published three times a year and is available in two languages: English and Spanish.

Editor: Marieke de Weerd. With cooperation of Piet Kloosterman (PTC+ Oenkerk) and Fokko Tolsma (page 6).

Printer: Senefelder Misset, Doetinchem, the Netherlands. ISSN 1878-1624

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Highlights is distributed free of charge to customers of CRV. For subscriptions and other information, please go to our website: www.crv4all.com or contact: CRV, P.O. Box 5073, 6802 EB Arnhem, the Netherlands, Phone: + 31 26 3898 500, Fax: + 31 26 3898 555, E-mail: sales@crv4all.com Material appearing in Highlights is copyrighted and may not be reproduced without permission of CRV.

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DAIRY FARM ECONOMICS

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FUTURE EVENTS PUBLICATION OF BREEDING VALUES Tuesday April 3, 2012 Tuesday Augustus 14 , 2012 Tuesday December 4, 2012