BIG VALLEY, Alta. – Adding some Brown Swiss, Jersey or Montbeliarde cows to rejuvenate a Holstein herd is becoming commonplace, but one Alberta dairy turned its operation around by adding Fleckviehs from Germany.
Cornel and Cremona Primrose at Big Valley are converting their Holstein based commercial dairy to Fleckvieh by importing semen from Germany to build better, more muscled cows without losing milk production.
In Europe, Simmental and Fleckvieh have similar traits but are considered two different breeds. The Fleckviehs imported to North American Simmental herds are beef strains, but in Europe many breeds are dual purpose for milk and meat.
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As newlyweds the Primroses were trying to make the farm pay with grain, beef and 25 dairy cows. Cremona had a dairy background but Cornel, who came from a beef operation, was not happy raising fragile cows that got sick easily and had difficulty getting pregnant.
“I was doing the books and I was just astonished in that small herd of 25 Holstein cows, our veterinary costs and expenses were so high compared to our beef herd of 120 cows,” he said.
“We figured there had to be a better way to produce a healthier cow and produce milk without extremely high input costs,” he said.
In 2003, they spied an article in an American magazine about added cow power with Fleckvieh influence and wanted to learn more about the well muscled milking cows. They got in touch with a Manitoba farmer who was using them and they were eventually linked to veterinarian John Popp who was importing semen from a German stud.
In 2004, they bred all their females with Fleckvieh semen.
“Our point of view is we had nothing to lose,” said Cornel.
They checked milk production, butterfat levels and fertility at each successive lactation.
“A lot of North Americans are scared to try Fleckviehs because they are too beefy and they believe they won’t milk because in North America we have never had a dual purpose cow,” said Cremona.
Today, they are the Alberta distributors of German based Fleckvieh semen.
Their cattle are mostly crossbred with Holsteins and retain the traditional black and white colour pattern with more white faces and much heavier hindquarters. They are moderate sized, quiet cows.
The Primroses retain their own heifers and hope to build up their herd of 55 to 100 cows, all with Fleckvieh bloodlines, and eventually remove all Holstein influence.
Milk production may be slightly lower than before but with reduced health costs and better feed efficiency they decided their change makes economic sense.
The legs and feet are stronger so there have been negligible problems with lameness and pregnancy rates have improved.
Production during lactations tends to be flatter than with Holsteins so rather than a peak milk production a month or two after freshening, these cows milk at a steadier rate. Mastitis and other udder problems are less of a problem because the cow is less stressed to produce.
Until recently they raised their Fleckvieh cross steer calves to slaughter weight and sold them direct to the packer on the rail. No discounts were received on the carcasses. Their crossbred calves were also more feed efficient.
“The Fleckvieh bull calves were four to five months less on feed in the feedlot,” said Cornel.
Now they raise the calves to 600 pounds and they go on feed elsewhere.
Two years ago, Cremona joined Popp on a German Fleckvieh tour where she learned that sires go through a five year proving program with 50 milking daughters and 100 bull carcasses evaluated for quality by government auditors.
For more information, contact Popp at 204-636-2387 or bigbeargenetics@inetlink.ca.
