The different breeds to use in a crossbreeding program
Holstein World: What combination of breeds is most prevalent in the crossbred dairy population? What is your research saying is the most beneficial cross? Beyond the first generation - where do producers go from there?
Dr. Les Hansen: We began crossbreeding pure (but unregistered) Holstein cows and heifers at the University of Minnesota with Jersey semen, which has been the first step by many people who decide to take the plunge. A couple of years later, we needed to breed those crosses to something, and we chose imported semen from the Montbeliarde breed of France. That was due to the sensational results we found from crossbreeding by seven dairies in California. We are now milking Montbeliarde crossbreds in our research herds at the University of Minnesota (in their 1st and 2nd lactations), and we are pretty convinced the Montbeliarde breed has a major role to play in crossbreeding systems around the world.
To adequately capitalize on heterosis (hybrid vigor), it is important to use three breeds in a crossbreeding system. Common knowledge is, “The first cross is good, but then what?” Too often, the first-cross cow was bred back to Holstein, and that was a huge mistake! Once a commercial dairy producer becomes accustomed to a full dose of heterosis, he/she isn’t very pleased with only a 50% dose of heterosis. Rotational crossbreeding with three breeds is simple to implement, and it is far simpler than trying to avoid inbreeding within the Holstein breed. Often commercial dairy producers lack pedigree information on their cows, so they can’t avoid inbreeding if they would like to. We are now milking 3-breed crossbreds in our campus herd, and they are neck-and-neck with our pure Holsteins (sire by top bulls) for production. However, in the next rotation of our crossbreeding system, we will be replacing the Jersey breed with the Swedish Red breed.
Holstein World: What do we know about the breeds we are crossing with? What is in their pedigree that indicates including them in a crossbreeding program would be advantageous?
Dr. Les Hansen: All breeds have their advocates, and that is good. Actually, a small number of breeds merit consideration globally for dairy cattle, but they are splendid breeds. The Holstein breed leads the pack.
The Scandinavian Red group includes Swedish Red, Finnish Ayrshire, Norwegian Red, Danish Red, German Angler, and Aussie Red, and those breeds intend to work collectively to form a global breed into the future, which will likely be referred to simply as the “Red” breed. Currently, Swedish Red is “the king of the world” among the Scandinavian Red breeds for combined production, udders, feet & legs, and functionality. The Scandinavian Red group has focused on the functional traits (fertility, health, calving ease, etc.) for many, many years. The breeds in this group have predominately Ayrshire heritage; therefore, I assume most Ayrshire breeds globally will bring in large doses of Scandinavian Red. This will probably be the case for Milking Shorthorns, too. This global “Red” breed will function as a global breed similar to the Holstein breed; however, it will have much greater gene variation and, therefore, much less concern about inbreeding than the global Holstein breed.
As I have already mentioned, the Montbeliarde breed has many attributes that make it ideally suited for crossing with Holsteins – the breed has selected FOR body condition on top of production through history, it has outstanding legs & feet (similar to its cousin, the Brown Swiss), and the udders are outstanding, too. There are more than twice as many Montbeliarde cows on DHI in France as there are Jerseys on DHI in the U.S. Commercial dairy producers who have traveled to California to see first-hand the Montbeliarde crossbreds in the seven dairies we have been working with uniformly go away impressed.
Most readers of the Holstein World are very familiar with the Jersey and Brown Swiss breeds, and they are aware of the strengths and liabilities of those breeds. Crossbreds of Jersey and Brown Swiss with Holstein should be very comparable to pure Holsteins for production.
The Normande breed is especially well suited for low-input, grass-based systems. Normande cows will maintain body condition, fertility, and health on diets that are below par for energy. Low-input, grass-based systems are a growing niche in the U.S., and I expect the Normande breed to play a large role in those crossbreeding systems.
Also, the “Red”, the Montbeliarde, and the Normande breeds each have selection programs for young sires that are carefully orchestrated to avoid the accumulation of inbreeding that has occurred within the Holstein, Jersey, and Brown Swiss breeds.