Other Dairy breeds
For those dairy herds whose milk contracts reward milk fat & protein content for example cheese makers and look to utilise grazing grass many have chosen the more traditional breeds such as Friesian, or look to one of the more recent dual purpose breeds. K.I.-Samen supply Cattle Genie with a wide choice of such breeds including Montbeliarde/ Fleckvieh/ MRI & Normande in order to maximise both milk sales and male calf / cull cow value.
For those block calving and on low input and/or organic the white marker face short gestation Groninger-Blaarkop and Dutch Belted Lakenvelder are both small framed cattle with best calving ease and fertility.
The popularity for the Friesian is riding high once more. Ki-Samen bring you new fresh impulse to the B-F herd book and are also highly suited to a X breeding programme;
- Highly fertile
- Nice volume – milk solids ratio
- Strength – coupled with will to live
- Healthy hoofs – capable of walking long distances
MRY is a dual purpose breed which is known for high protein milk content, high daughter fertility coupled with great longevity and excellent body condition, Ki-Samen can provide you with a good choice of MRY bulls whether you are pedigree or X breeding and looking for that third X.
- Great fertility
- High protein ideal cheese making
- Capacity and dairy strength
- Better maintained body condition after calving
- Value in male calves £££££
- Sexed semen available
- Sloping rump angle for ease of calving and low cases of euterus infection = high fertility
- Free of holstein genes
- 2013 figures Netherlands, average production 305 days
- 6,441kg milk / 4.44% fat / protein 3.66%
“Blister Heads” as they are fondly known in Holland provides you the X breeder with a valuable addition to your herd. In these times making a profit from dairy is difficult, however Ki-Samen can provide the necessary solutions without incurring additional financial outlay.
The breed has been recorded for over seven hundred years, in all that time it has not inherited any specific genetic defects.
The Blaarkop is a medium sized breed and adult cows reach an average height of 135cm.
- Well known for easy calving
- High fertility
- Short gestation ( 276 days av-)
- Betacaseine a2/a2 – omega 3 fat minerals – high milk protein content
- Twin calves uncommon
- Calm temperament
- Claws often black pigmented and hard
- Highly suited to being utilised at the end of the block before beef stock bulls
- Introduced – white head permits the use of a/angus
- Male calf value ££££
- Option to market as valued cull cow – or in calf to beef and for suckler
- Market ££££
- Easily make calving at 24 months
- With a worldwide population of over 1 million females in 20,000 livestock farms the Normande is a unique dairy cow with multiple values.
- 80 % frequency of Kappa Casein B with + 10 to +15% more cheese yield
- Fertility is excellent for both heifers and cows
- Calving is less problematic due to wide & sloping rumps
- Low sensitivity to metabolic problems
- Strength and robust frames with choice of muscling bulls available
- Beef value of males and females
- Easy going cows with calm temperament
- Very good utilisation of forage and wide muzzle makes for ideal grazing animal
- Resistance to the sun & harsh climatic conditions
- Great genetic advance in feet & legs and udder
- Ideal choice for a cross breeding program
- Lakenvelder Dutch Belted cattle are efficient cattle of moderate size, they are either Red or Black with the distinctive white belts which are very dominant when cross breeding.
- Milk Fat globules are exceptionally small and very kind to the gut and produce natural soft curd.
- The breed origins are traced back to the belted cattle of Austria, around the 17th century Dutch nobility created what is now a native breed to the Netherlands and retains its excellent grazing ability and forage efficiency.
- Longevity is a trait of the breed with many cows milking into their teens.
- Heifers breed early and produce a calf every year with average straw conception rates of 1.3 per cow.
- Moderate frame results in high dairy beef yield.
- Average birth weight of 32 Kg assures calving ease and less postpartum stress.
- Remarkable genetic consistency resulting from centuries of pure breeding and selection. Lakenvelder bulls are prepotent and their offspring are highly predictable and uniform.
- Lakenvelder will impart significant hybrid vigour when crossed with other breeds.
- Placid character and low maintenance an ideal spring block calving choice.
