Jersey cow performance in mixed-breed herds

Jersey cow performance in mixed-breed herds

Some respondents to the Jersey Australia survey expressed concern about how well Jersey cows competed with Holstein cows in mixed-breed herds. Australian herd recording data held by DataGene suggest that Jersey cows perform well alongside other cows in mixed-breed herds, as the difference between milk solids production per cow per year of Jersey cows and Holstein cows in mixed-breed herds from 1990 to 2019 has remained fairly constant over many years (Figure 5a,b).

Holstein cows

Jersey cows

(a)

Holstein cows

Jersey cows

(b)

Figure 5. Average 305-day milk solids per cow for cows by year for (a) mixed-breed seasonal and split calving herds, and (b) mixed-breed year-round calving herds. Blue points and line of best fit represent Holstein cows in mixed-breed herds. Red points and line represent Jersey cows in mixedbreed herds [DataGene, 2021].

However, Australian herd recording data held by DataGene from 1993 to 2019 suggest that Jersey cows in straight Jersey herds tend to produce more milk solids per year than Jerseys in mixed-breed herds. There could be many factors contributing to this difference. (Figure 6a,b).

(a)

(b)

Figure 6. Average 305-day milk solids per kg metabolic bodyweight (BW0.75) for cows per year for (a) Jersey cows in mixed-breed vs. all-Jersey seasonal and split calving herds, and (b) Jersey cows in mixed-breed vs. all-Jersey year-round calving herds [DataGene, 2021].