First New Zealand Jerseys from Overlord PP to Milk in Holland

When you completely overhaul your farming system, you also need a cow that performs best in that new system. That was the main reason for dairy farmer Jelle Hakvoort from Rutten to switch from high-functioning cows to crossbreeds and he is now heading for a 100% jersey herd. The Hakvoort-Haarman partnership is also one of the first cattle farms with jerseys to milk from our range of New Zealand bulls.

A SELF-RELIANT, FERTILE COW WITH AN EFFICIENT PRODUCTION

We switched from a TMR ration to pure graze and a spring-calving herd. Then organic is within reach and so we have made the switch. A cow that survives well in this system is the jersey, according to Hakvoort. We are looking for a self-reliant cow that is also fertile and yet also produces efficiently.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR OVERLORD PP

The dairy farmer calls the complete change of direction in his business ‘pieces of the puzzle that have fallen together in recent years’. In the herd of 75 cows, the bloodline is now about 75% pure jersey, whereby in recent years he has given opportunities especially to the New Zealand jersey bull
Overlord PP. He now milks six heifers by this polled bull.

‘We are looking for a self-reliant cow that is also fertile and yet also produces efficient production’

HEIFERS WITH MILK TYPE AND BALANCE

It’s a hard system with us; they were reared in the grazing woodlands. Once they are milked, they have to make do with grass and a kilo of concentrated feed per day. The production of the heifers is around 5,000 kilos of milk, about 800 kilos below the farm average. Heifers with milk type and balance,
lots of paunch and legs straight under,’ is how Hakvoort describes the Overlord daughters. They don’t carry excess condition, but have a good production with an average 106 lactation value’, summarises Hakvoort. The aAa-score of 516 also appeals to him and the absence of horns fits in with the wishes of society. Hakvoort says: ‘Yes, I still use Overlord, these are the type of cows that deliver the highest yield in my farm system.

POLLED OFFSPRING

Following Overlord PP, CRV has added the polled bull Gym PP to its range. Gym always gives polled offspring and sires very high fat and protein production. The daughters will be milk type and very fertile.

Article Courtesy of CRV