Norwegian Reds come out top in reproduction trials

THE reproductive performance of Norwegian Red dairy cattle was significantly better than that of Holstein Friesians in a study carried out under commercial farm conditions in Northern Ireland.

Conrad Ferris from the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) said: “The focus on milk production traits has had a negative impact on fertility, health and longevity. Although these weaknesses are now being addressed there is considerable interest in Scandinavian breeds, as they have been using a multi-trait selection programme for some time.”

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Norwegian Red cattle out-performed Holstein Friesians in the trial, resulting in suggestions of cross-breeding.

Selection criteria

Fertility traits account for 18 per cent of the selection criteria in the Norwegian Red dairy cow population in Norway and as a result the 60-day non-return rate to first AI was recently calculated at 72.5 per cent for this group.

A total of 221 maiden heifer Norwegian dairy cattle were imported onto 19 commercial dairy farms in Northern Ireland to establish how these cattle would perform outside of Norway, where farming systems differ greatly from those in the UK.

These were compared with an equal number of home-bred Holstein Friesians of similar age on each farm.

The study, carried out until the cows reached their sixth lactation, showed more Norwegian Red cattle completed each of the lactations when compared to the Holstein Friesians.

Longevity

“It’s interesting to look at the numbers of cows which disappeared off the study – 16.3 per cent of the Holstein Friesians were still alive at the end of lactation five compared to 27.2 per cent of the Norwegian Reds,” said Dr Ferris.

Of the cows culled during the study (excluding cows culled for diseases such as TB and brucellosis and due to farmers leaving the study) 28.5 per cent of the Holsteins were culled due to infertility compared to 11.8 per cent of Norwegian Reds.

Conception rates

Conception to first AI was significantly higher for the Norwegian cattle in lactations one, two and three with there being little difference between the breeds in later lactations.

In terms of production in lactations one and two, the Holstein Friesians did outperform the Norwegian Reds but there was little difference for the other lactations.

The Norwegian cattle had lower SCC for all lactations, which is reflective of the selection programme used for many years in their country of origin.

Although the study looked solely at ‘breed substitution’ Dr Ferris said there was scope for cross-breeding to counter fertility problems within Holstein breed genetics.

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