Is there such a thing as a grass-based or grazing genotype? Yes, there is. Is it peculiar to one country? No. New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, the UK, Australia and many South American countries all milk off grass. Many herds in America are grazed year-round, and others graze seasonally. Consultants like to lump North American genetics as one homogenous mass unsuited to the seasonal grazing system. This is patently not true; as of January 2023, World Wide Sires has 1296 bulls made up of 300 proven and 996 genomic sires across the seven dairy breeds. Are they all the same? No.

Identifying the type of cow that fits the seasonally calved grazing system is not difficult. There is no secret formula. We know exactly what traits produce a cow that survives and thrives in the system and select our bulls accordingly:

• Moderate milk

• High component percentages

• High daughter fertility

• High body condition score

• Smaller or moderate size

• Good udders with high mastitis resistance

• High lameness resistance

• Easy calving both sire and maternal

This is not theoretical; we can list any number of bulls whose daughters have performed well and grown old in the system: Ito, Sailor, Duce, Potter, Jake, Jinx, Billion, Jock, Mookie, Tallyho, Russell, Wright, Planet, Plan, Terrific, Trenton, to name a few. Our Jersey bulls have also provided profitable cows that last in the system: Berretta, Barber, Future, Paramount, Jace, Rocket, Action, Riley, Valentino, Leonel, Lemonhead, Matt and now Stoney. Our GrazingPRO^® index is doing an even better job of identifying the right bulls.

Holstein International recently ran an article on a cow that is having a significant influence in New Zealand:

Meander FMI April: The Perfect Brood Cow for the New Zealand System

The progeny proven Beamer son Meander SB Arrow is an absolute bestseller at the New Zealand breeding company LIC, while full brother Alias is popular at CRV. Among the high DNA sires are various half-brothers of Arrow and Alias. This displays the tremendous breeding strength of their shared dam: Meander FMI April, who has also exhibited tremendous results in the female line.

“April gives many litres of milk with very high components, as evident from her most recent lactation of 8,100 kg 5.74% 4.24% (809 kg milk solids) in 297 days on a ration of primarily fresh grass. Here you are paid for kgs fat and protein, while deductions are made for litres, so the more concentrated the milk, the better. Further, April has a splendid character and good conformation (87 points), and she is outcross. Fertility is also very good, she flushes splendidly. And she provides sons and daughters suitable for the New Zealand system (high BW), whether you combine her with a New Zealand bull like Beamer [Mint Edition x Skelton], or an American bull like Supershot.” Speaking is Robert Bruin, who in 1989 together with his wife Annemarie emigrated from the Netherlands to New Zealand to start there as share milkers. In the meantime, they own four farms, with a total of 2,800 cows, who all calve in the spring.

THE GRAZING GENOTYPE IS WHERE YOU FIND IT AND IS NOT SPECIFIC TO ANY COUNTRY OR BLOODLINE.

With a proving system heavily biased against him, a Wisconsin-bred bull who never left the shores of the USA has been the #1 BW bull and dominated the proven New Zealand BW rankings for the past six months: Sandy-Valley Icarus has a Breeding Worth of +385 NZ$ (16 March 2023) Icarus is a MODESTY x MOGUL x ROBUST, three WWS bulls who, with their sons and grandsons, have seen heavy use locally with great success. SPORT (a WWS MODESTY grandson) has 242 milking daughters in New Zealand; they average 5.0% Butterfat and 3.9% Protein; he has a Liveweight BV of 67.1, Functional Survival BV of +3.0 and a Fertility BV of +4.6, one of the highest in that country. SPORT’S USA DPR is +1.9, Icarus’s DPR is -2.2, and he is -4.1 for Fertility in NZ. The two bull’s daughter fertility figures are ranked comparably across both countries. SPORT’S New Zealand Milk proof is +268 kgs, his American milk figure is -1000 lbs. Sport is the #1 proven WWS GrazingPRO bull.

MOOKIE (a MOGUL son) has 2043 New Zealand daughters; they average 5.1% Butterfat and 3.6% Protein with a Functional Survival BV of +4.2. MOOKIE’s NZ Milk proof is +852 kgs; he is -628 lbs in the USA. MOOKIE’s NZ Liveweight BV is +82.8. His first NZ proof in 2018 had him at +98.8. Overseas genetics are heavily penalized/handicapped when they have low reliability in NZ.

WWS used two bulls back in the day to reduce cow size: JINX and PROMISE. They have current NZ Liveweight BVs of +32.4 and +54.3, respectively, based on thousands of daughters in that country (average Friesian Liveweight BV in New Zealand is +59.6, with some NZ bulls > +100). SPORT’S initial Liveweight BV was +115 kgs. After the SPORT daughters were actually weighed, it dropped to +67.1 kgs!

OMAN, born in 1998, has 1053 daughters in his NZ proof and is still +3.2 Survival BV +2.4 Fertility BV.

MOTION from WWS is the #1 proven EBI Holsten bull in Ireland. It is no surprise MOTION works on grass; he ticks many of the boxes needed to fit their block calving system:

• Moderate milk and high component percentages

• MOTION is -306 Milk, +0.27% Fat, +0.14% Protein in the USA

• MOTION’S first lactation Irish daughters average 6240 kgs Milk

• 4.15%F and 3.41%P

• High Daughter Fertility +4.1 DPR

• High Body Condition Score 107 BCS

• Easy calving 1.7% SCE and 1.9% DCE

• MOTION is the #2 proven GrazingPRO bull at World Wide Sires

Wilsonview MATT was the #1 BPI Australian-proven Jersey bull for six proof runs. 5 out of the top 10 Australian proven Dec-22 BPI Jersey bulls are American.

Are we cherry-picking? Is this all just anecdotal? I don’t think so. There is enormous diversity within the North American genome; you just have to identify the right bulls for the grazing system. The local and global results speak for themselves.

The World Wide Sires GrazingPRO index identified SPORT and MOTION as “the right kind” when they were genomic young sires. They are now the #1 and 2# proven bulls on the index, with daughters excelling in the seasonal calved grazing environment.

CROSSBREEDING

Dairy NZ: The hybrid vigour advantage for a first cross animal is that the 6-week in-calf rate is around 3.4% higher than you would expect from mating parents of the same single breed.

The hybrid vigour advantage for subsequent crosses is that the 6-week in-calf rate is around 2% higher than you would expect from mating parents of the same single breed.

Crossbred sires will retain a 1.7% hybrid vigour advantage.

Flip-flop crossing with Holsteins and Jerseys, as has been practised in New Zealand for decades, makes the right kind of cow, not because of hybrid vigour, which fades very quickly, but because it makes a medium size, fertile cow with high components.

It is our experience that strategic use of Jersey semen on a Holstein herd rather than flip-flopping produces better results. A generation of Jersey reduces size and ups components and improves daughter fertility. The F1 is a formidable cow and hard to beat for profitability.

Do NOT breed her back to Jersey. The F1 and F2 should all be bred back to Holstein. You get more milk, vastly superior udders and a longer-lasting cow. The F3 can be bred back to Jersey.

“IT’S NOT THE COW – IT’S THE HOW.”

We think the WWS product is superior and makes a positive difference to your bottom line, but management will always trump genetics. The operator’s passion and attention to detail across all facets of dairy farming make the difference regardless of the strain of cow or breed milked.

Milk the cows you like and what works for you.