Red and white Holsteins were once as welcome as the illegitimate son showing up at the family reunion. Now they are trendy.
“They were once considered a blight on your herd,” said Doug Blair, a partner in Rocky Mountain Holsteins, where red cattle have been selected as part of the farm’s elite cow program.
“They used to be inferior in terms of production and type,” said his business partner, David Chalack.
Today, it seems the red cattle are fetching high prices at sales, he said.
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Rocky Mountain is planning a September production sale where about 20 percent of the offering off the farm will be red cattle.
“We have been consciously acquiring red cattle over the last seven years,” he said.
Between 1885 and 1970, none were allowed in the Canadian Holstein breed registry so producers either got rid of them or sent them to commercial herds, said Blair.
Now, producers indicate the colour on the pedigree and some include the word red in the animal’s name.
Reds are registered separately in the United States and are popular in Europe, especially in Switzerland and Germany where Holsteins and Simmentals were often crossed.
The most recent statistics show 500,000 units of red and white semen were exported to Europe from Canada, said Blair of Alta Genetics.
At this year’s Calgary Stampede Dairy Classic on March 20, a special category was set aside for red and white Holstein champions. Although the entries were low, it is following a trend set at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto and World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, where separate red shows are scheduled.
Christina Rendel of Lampada Holsteins at Lampman, Sask., showed a red yearling heifer in a junior championship. This female, equal in quality to the traditional black and white cows, was purchased because of her overall quality and red coat.
“They are the hot thing right now.”
