The Kiwi crossbred cow is the widespread cow type used on grass-based dairy farms in New Zealand. These cows have been developed over the years as the New Zealanders aimed to breed a cow type which is suited to the grass-based systems they operate on. These cows were bred to exploit traits such as feed conversion efficiency, high milk solids, excellent fertility, calving ease, shorter gestation period and longevity.

The Kiwi crossbred cow is a combination of the New Zealand Friesian and the Jersey breed. The cows on the farm I’m working on are roughly 70% Friesian and 30% Jersey. This combination produces a cow with good hybrid vigour as the best traits from both breeds are combined to produce a superior, more efficient animal. In the 2014/2015 season, the cows on this farm produced 467kg milk solids (MS) on average.

The crossbred cow is bred to have a higher metabolism, which makes them a more efficient converter of grass to milk. This cow type is a smaller, more robust cow than the Friesian so they require less feed intake, but production is still at a high level in terms of MS/cow.

They also cause fewer problems with lameness due to the Jersey’s tougher hooves, and they have a considerably lower liveweight than a Friesian. With profit the main aspect of all businesses, these cows are shown in New Zealand to best suit the grass-based dairy system that is also prevalent in Ireland.

Performance outweighs loss

Some farmers may not consider crossbred cows due to their calves being worth a lot less than other breeds, but the loss in income here is far outweighed by other performance characteristics. The smaller crossbred cow was bred to produce the most amount of milk from the least amount of liveweight. This reduces the animal’s maintenance feed requirements and so improves the feed conversion efficiency of the dairy cow.

With these cows, the focus is profit, not chasing production at any cost.

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