It is over a month since autumn calving officially finished for the year, with the last two cows calving on Friday 29 October. Overall, calving went relatively smoothly with only a few issues.

While the cows are milking well, milk yields are slightly lower compared to last year, despite the extra kg of blend fed per head.

However, the cows are getting an early Christmas treat this week with the opening of the maize silage pit. Hopefully, feeding two forages will boost intakes and subsequently milk yield.

This year, the maize silage was ensiled six weeks later than usual (mid-November rather than early October) meaning we are now feeding it six weeks later, which is probably contributing to the slightly lower milk yields. Time will tell.

The turnaround between calving and breeding is short. We began recording heats at the start of this month to ensure all cows are cycling before breeding starts. The first cows are scheduled to be served on Boxing Day and will continue for two months after that.

Our breeding programme follows a three-way cross system.

Fleckvieh genetics

We initially started with a black and white Friesian herd and introduced Fleckvieh genetics over 10 years ago. This decision was made by my father after he had a poor experience with heifers from a particular bull.

He noticed that other farmers in the area were experimenting with the Fleckvieh cross, so he decided to buy a Fleckvieh bull.

After several years of crossbreeding, we were very pleased with the first-generation of Fleckvieh offspring.

When I was at university, I completed a literature review on three-way crossbreeding and from that, concluded that a mix of Fleckvieh, Holstein, and Norwegian Red would be the best option for our farm. We introduced Norwegian Red genetics about six years ago and since then, it has become a significant part of the herd.

The initial introduction of Fleckvieh has had multiple benefits, with the most notable being the increased robustness of the animals. This has been particularly evident in a reduction in the number of downer cows.

We are also currently producing more milk per cow than before and although it’s not our main focus, the higher calf value is an added positive.

However, a downside of the Fleckvieh breed is their udder structure. While the animals perform well in other areas, we do have to cull cows with poor udders.

In addition, we have had issues with slow milking speeds and poor temperament in some Fleckvieh animals, although we have mitigated against this in recent years through the careful selection of bulls with good temperament and fast milking speeds.

The third breed

The Norwegian Red is well known for its health and fertility.

Since introducing the three-way cross, we’ve definitely seen improvements in conception rates, though it’s hard to determine how much of this is due to the breed change versus management adjustments.

The Norwegian Red and Holstein animals have udders with good front attachment, stronger suspensory ligaments, and better teat placement.

They have high production capacity and are likely driving milk yield within the crossbreed animal we have. It works well alongside the robustness from the Fleckvieh breed.

However, a large disadvantage for the Norwegian Red and Fleckvieh is the limited number of bulls available.

Over the past 10 years of crossbreeding, we’ve introduced various management practices, making it difficult to isolate the effects of breed alone.

However, we’ve seen consistently positive results, with heifers exceeding breeding target weights, improved conception rates and milk production, and a reduction in the number of animals dying on farm.

Each breed has its advantages and disadvantages and within our herd, there is as much variation within a breed as there is between breeds.

Overall, I’m pleased with the performance of the three-way cross and plan to continue using it as we move forward.