Dairy Crossbreeding

by Dr. Ted Burnside, Technical Advisor, Geno Global

A survey of dairy farmer opinions on performance of pure Holstein first lactation heifers compared to contemporary Norwegian Red heifers was carried out from June to Sept., 2009. Sixty farmers on a crossing project in Canada, who bred and owned over 1000 F1 NR x HO heifers were surveyed and 37 responded in the busy harvest season. They rated the two heifer groups which had calved out for first lactations on a scale from 1=not satisfied through to 9=very satisfied. Over 600 of the 1000 heifers have calved.

White spotted heifer sired by Brenden: 1st lactation milk 21,194 lb, 858 lb fat, & 705 lb protein. Black polled heifer sired by Berge projected at 21,448 lb milk, 730 lb fat & 730 lb protein.

 The overall ratings for dairy merit were not significantly different for HO purebreds and NR x HO crosses, at 6.79 for Holstein heifers and 6.76 for NR x HO crossbred heifers in the same herd. When the two contemporary heifer groups were ranked and the rankings were analysed on their relative merit for 14 individual traits, Norwegian Red x Holstein crosses were significantly more satisfactory for calving ease, and four health traits, mastitis, digestive problems, feet and leg problems and reproductive problems. The NR x HO crossbreds were also rated significantly more satisfactory for feet and legs conformation. Purebred Holstein contemporaries excelled over the crossbreds significantly only on milk yield, udder conformation, and temperament. While not significantly superior the crossbreds had higher scores for fat and protein yields, for low stillbirths, for body condition score, and reproductive performance.  

This Berge daughter (also pictured above) carries the polled gene, as do 60% of Norwegian Red cattle! The two heifers pictured in this article were bred and owned by Henrik and Frida Van Dijk, Westlock, Alberta. Photos used with their permission.