ProCROSS Advantages
ProCROSS cows have six major strengths: Fertility, Health, Cull Value, Efficiency, Longevity and Lifetime Profit.
These six advantages were identified in the most important scientific study into crossbreeding dairy cattle yet undertaken. It was led by Professor Les Hansen from the University of Minnesota and its results were published in July 2019. Its conclusions included the following:
Fertility
ProCROSS cows are more fertile, requiring a lower number of inseminations per pregnancy. Fertility is one of the strengths to come from the VikingRed as well as the Montbéliarde breeds, which are used in the ProCROSS. This doesn’t simply mean semen costs will be lower, but more importantly, fewer cows will be culled due to infertility and fewer youngstock needed as herd replacements.
Health
The ProCROSS cow is a much stronger cow than the pure Holstein. This is thanks to the Montbéliarde breed, which offers plenty of strength and excellent feet and legs, and the VikingRed, with its excellent genetics for health across a range of traits. In addition to the benefits from each of these ProCROSS breeds is the benefit of heterosis. Also known as hybrid vigour, heterosis gives the crossbred animal better performance than the average of its parents. It has been proven that heterosis has a positive influence on most health traits and research has shown that veterinary costs go down by 26% in the second and third lactations.
Cull Value
In the 10-year study, ProCROSS crossbred cows had a 14% higher cull value than their Holstein herd mates.
Efficiency
ProCROSS cows have a more stable body weight than the Holstein during lactation. The Holstein cow often starts her lactation with too much body condition and uses energy to convert her bodyfat into milk. By the end of lactation, the Holstein is often too frail. With their more stable metabolism, ProCROSS cows can produce milk more efficiently, directly from the feed they eat rather than ‘off their backs’. As a result, research has shown their feed efficiency to be 8% greater than the Holstein’s. In other words, they produce more milk solids per kg of dry matter intake.
Longevity
One of the most important conclusions of the University of Minnesota study is that ProCROSS cows remain in the herd for 147 more days than their Holstein herd mates. Longevity is a good indicator of profitability for commercial dairy farms and an extra 147 days means 147 more days of production.
Lifetime Profit
Daily Profit
Holstein, VikingRed and Montbeliarde produces daily profits which are on average, 9-13%, greater than those from pure Holstein. The financial advantage was demonstrated to come from a wide range of factors including greater lifetime weights of fat and protein, better fertility, fewer health treatments, higher calf and cull values, and improved rates of survival.
When all the benefits are combined, the ProCROSS cow delivers 33% more profit than the pure Holstein in her lifetime. This is because she is easier to manage and costs less to keep for the same level of performance. When looking at lifetime production, the ProCROSS is the kind of cow farmers want in their herds!