cross dairy to dairy breeds

[Teacupliz]

I was told yesterday by a friend that if you have Holstein and breed it to a Jersey- that produced a hiefer- that heifer could very well be a great milker. But if you take the cow and get a hiefer out of her she will never milk well. that sounds crazy to me-- and made me wonder if true way anyone would breed out of there cows breed?
Liz

[JeffNY]

The only experience I had with a JerseyXHolstein was last year. She didn't milk worth a ----. I actually dried her off only 4-5 months in, because she was milking so bad. I'm not sure why she dropped so much, but she was terrible.


Now someone I know has milked a cross, and it milks like a fool (good milker). However the best cross from what I hear, are Swiss/Holstein. They milk like crazy..

However for health traits, I beleive the swedish red/monte's/holsteins are really good crosses.

But as a vet said to me, and he made a good point. What do you cross after you cross? Because there isn't a huge selection of bulls out there. I was going to do this, but I am glad I didn't. Purebreds will make more money, but thats because of what I am after.

I would personally cross Holstein/Swiss, Jersey is good and all, however you might take a hit with milk production, especially if she takes on the Jersey side of things. I have seen crosses that look like holsteins, this one looked like both, but was short like a Jersey.


Jeff

[Up North]

Folks that crossbreed dairy cows do so to improve fertility and longevity.
Hybrid Vigor naturally does this.
Will a crossbred milk less than a purebred? That depends on how you measure production.
Per Lactation production a purebred often does better.
Lifetime production a crossbred usually does better.

[milkinpigs]

Originally Posted by Up North

Folks that crossbreed dairy cows do so to improve fertility and longevity.
Hybrid Vigor naturally does this.
Will a crossbred milk less than a purebred? That depends on how you measure production.
Per Lactation production a purebred often does better.
Lifetime production a crossbred usually does better.

Yes Sir

[Teacupliz]

Is not the first generation I am told does not milk-- it is the next generation after that cross has a heifer-
liz

[dosthouhavemilk]

I dunno....80 pounds out of a first freshener doesn't seem shabby to me. She is a 3/4 Jersey, 1/4 Norwegian Red. In this case the sire was 1/2 Norwegian Red and 1/2 Jersey and the dam Jersey.
Their protein tests are higher than our purebreds, their production also tends to be higher compared to their purebred counterparts. But we crossing with higher production dairy.
One of those 3/4 J, 1/4 NR runs around a 7-10 percent Butterfat test.
We have the next generation in...the 7/8 Jersey, 1/8 Norwegian Red. Only two in so far. One was pushing 60 pounds a day as a first freshener. She was out for two weeks with a hoof issue about four months into her lactation. Dad was able to bring her back into production. I'm not sure what sh is putting out right now. The other 7/8 J, 1/8 NR was missing for two weeks post calving. She isn't breaking any records, but we can't really expect her to.
They are wroking well for us. We are breeding back to Jersey. We have some linebreeding in there (using Norwegian Red cross clean up bulls that go back to the same NR bull as the cow side). We only purchased five straws of Myrher-P. Used four, had two cows and two bulls. Used one bull and the two cows. The first cross were both culled by their second lactations...the cross back to our strong Jersey genetics are doing quite well.

Hybrid Vigor is high in the first generation and the next generation will not be as noticeably high. At that point you are generally picking one of the breeds to breed back to and so the offspring will tend more towards those traits.

[Rick Allen]

Select sires the largest seemen sales house in the US has cross breeding info on their web page. There is no bad breed combinations or bad generations as a rule. As Up North said crossing is usually done to bring together the strength of 2 breeds. Jerseys are often crossed with Holsteins to bring in the richer milk and better birth rates of the Jersey to the higher production of the Holstein. This cross won't produce as much milk as the Holstein but the milk will have higher components and the cows more healthy calves.

Brown S and Holstein will add other good things to the mix like longevity (from BS) and this cross will produce almost as much as a pure Holstein. They will calve better too.

The best part about crossing is that you usually get the best characteristics from both breeds. The worst part is that they don't bring as much in the sale barn.

Select sires recomends a three breed cross. I'm shooting for a Devon/ Swedish Red/ Normande cross. All three of these are high component breeds that do not have bones popping out like all the heavy production, single use, breeds. I'm hoping for a good milker that looks like a Red Angus! /RA

[Teacupliz]

thanks and I give my question some more thought after I asked it and realized one of my best milkers is a 1/4 Holstein and 3/4 jersey.
I may cross my grade holstein next year with a BS- I must say though the BS are a pain in my butt- they just are over bearing-
Liz

[evermoor]

At a farm I worked at we had many crosses. Holstein and all virgin heifers are bred to jersey then keep breeding jersey till it looked like a jersey then hit it back to holstein. Most the crosses were almost solid black and of excellent confirmation and milking ability. Anything with guernsey in the cross was bad, and swiss crosses were mediocre as they were better than straight swiss but still did not hold up well in Free stall large herd enviroment. Surprised the angus cross cow out did the jerseys. I was impressed with Jersey shorthorn crosses, but havent used much Norwegien swedish crosses. The neighboring Dairy had a straight ayrshire herd that has now been crossed to Jersey and Swedish reds, very colorful to look at. Generally heterosis is highest with a three bred rotation, so I guess it is personal preferences.

[chukashtamoa]

Well were first time breeders of our Dexters we got last year. Our AI didn't have Dexter so we crossed Jersey hoping to increase utter size. Hope to improve value. Seems that other than the novelty there's a better market for the Jersey anyway. That is local, to reduce cost of registration, transport and demand.

Chukashtamoa

[Tad]

We have 7 x's. We only have 4 x jersey and 3 3/4 jersey. The first generation milks very well. We have a 17,000 herd average and three of the four X's milk 20,000+ The 3/4 aren't as good but they are all first calf heifers and we probably pick up later. We have stopped raising cross calves because all the smaller stalls of the barn are filled and you really take a hit on the calves.