“For some dairy producers, 200 yards to walk their cows to pasture seems too far. Here, our cows often walk several kilometers a day to their grazing. For us, it’s a real pleasure to lead them to pasture.”

The Montbeliarde by Coopex first

“I’m not saying the Holstein is not a good dairy cow, but we found the pure-bred animal was no longer suited to our grazing-based system, and also had too many health and fertility problems,” say French dairy producers, Didier Le Bris and Cyril Mignon.

In 1995, a few years after being the second highest French herd for production, the dairy farming partnership bought their first Montbéliarde cow. Seven other Montbeliarde heifers followed, after which the Holstein herd began to be bred to Montbeliarde bulls from Coopex. And so, the farm’s first crossbred heifers were born.

A cow that’s easy to live with

The effects of crossbreeding quickly began to appear. “The problems started to disappear; the cows no longer needed to be helped and they also showed more fertility. The herd health began to improve,” say the partners.

“It is now rare for a cow to limp on this farm,” says Mr Mignon, explaining that the VikingRed has now been added to the mix. “The three-way ProCROSS concept is helping to shape cows with good feet – an essential quality in our grazing system.”

Today, the herd is homogeneously red and white for the most part, medium in size compared with the Holstein, and has very good udder conformation. “A cow that’s easy to live with; and one that wants to go to pasture,” they say.

A robust cow

“This cow is really adapted to our system,” adds Mr Le Bris, explaining that the herd spends most of the year outside, as the nearby Atlantic coast brings mild temperatures all year long.

“Last winter, the herd spent only two weeks in the barn – only 15 days and nights. As soon as we can, we put them outside,” he says.

One of the most important gains from the ProCROSS system is the robustness the Montbeliarde adds to the mix. And ProCROSS has also improved the herd’s longevity from 2.3 to more than three lactations on average – to such an extent that the lower cull rate has become a bit of an issue, according to the partners.

“Now, the difficulty is picking the cows to sell, because often, they do not really have defects,” they say, adding that a lack of fertility is no longer the main reason for culling. “We had to learn to rear fewer replacement heifers as the cull rate has declined to 20%. Cows in their sixth and seventh lactations are common here.”

“The cows get pregnant very easily,” adds Mr Le Bris. “It’s always better when that happens.”

On average here, a cow produces 1.05 calves per year!

The fertility, the body condition and the good health of the herd come together in harmony to improve the ease of management and the job satisfaction for the two dairymen. They say their work can be summed up in a single word, and that’s ‘serenity’.