CiaoLatte, Italy : ProCROSS & Parmesan, the winning combo
July 1, 2021
Haxäng Mjölkgård, Sweden
November 25, 2021
Milk Unlimited Dairy Farms
Kelly & Christy Cunningham, Iowa, USA
“In 2018 we lost our fluid milk market. We began looking for a cow that would have moderate size but produce high components. Our search led us to the ProCROSS program. We immediately began breeding heifers and cows to Montbeliarde, however, the length of time to convert our herd from pure Holstein to a 3-breed ProCROSS was overwhelming.
I contacted Mike Osmundson at Creative Genetics about purchasing ProCROSS cattle to get a jump-start. I was able to purchase cattle from 3 long-time ProCROSS herds and began to freshen our first ProCROSS cattle in August, 2018.”
“Our dry matter intake is up to 10% less for the ProCROSS...we have realized better components, better health, better reproduction, and lower turnover rate for our ProCROSS compared with Holsteins …”
Better health and fertility
“We keep very detailed records on our ProCROSS and Holstein cows. Fresh-cow health events (ketosis, metritis, DA, milk fever, retained placenta) are half of what we experience with Holsteins. Mastitis and pneumonia are more than 50% less than Holsteins. Across all traits, our ProCROSS have –$.28/cow/day lower health cost than the Holsteins.
Reproduction has also been outstanding. ProCROSS cattle are open 22 days less and have pregnancy rates 4-5 points higher than Holsteins.”
Reduced expenses, a key advantage
“We group the ProCROSS cows separately from the Holsteins, and this allows us to compare their feed intake. Our dry matter intake is 4 to 10% less for the ProCROSS cows. The milk components are higher (+0.3% fat and +0.2% protein) while milk volume and ECM are running a few pounds less than Holsteins.
Herd turnover rate is substantially less for ProCROSS than Holstein, even as we are focusing on building numbers of cows.
We are very pleased with the ProCROSS cattle. We have realized better components, better health, better reproduction, and lower herd turnover rate. Our oldest groups of ProCROSS are now in fourth lactations. As our ProCROSS herd matures, milk volume and ECM are improving compared to Holsteins.
Our profit margin of the ProCROSS cows is +$.64/cow/day higher than Holsteins, and results from the substantially lower cost of production for ProCROSS milk.”
Herd statistics:
Owners
- Kelly and Christy Cunningham
Herd
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- 3,100 cows (60% ProCROSS currently)
Production
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- 84 Lbs/day, 38kg/day (89 lbs ECM/day, 40,4kg ECM/day)
- 4.09 %fat, 3.14 %protein
Dry Matter Intake
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- 54.6 lbs/day (25kg)
- 4 to 10% less DMI for ProCROSS
Cull rate
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- 39.6% for Holsteins
- 19.5% for ProCROSS
Fertility
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- 119 days open for Holsteins
- 97 days open for ProCROSS
Experience
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- ProCROSS since 2018, starting with purchased ProCROSS cows
System
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- Conventional, freestall
