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Seasonal calving calls for fertile cows

Breed healthy, profitable cows for your pasture-based production. Select the best bulls for better fertility and long-term sustainability. Explore the breeding solutions available to you as a seasonal calving farmer.

Fertile, long-living cows for seasonal calving

How much does it cost when one of your cows doesn't get pregnant in your seasonal calving herd? Not just in terms of loss of income but also the time spent worrying about the future of your herd?

What if you could reduce the costs and amount of work per cow, increase your conception rate — and boost your lifetime production?

Seasonal calving is a popular breeding method for farmers in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Ireland, South Africa and South America. It requires careful planning and management — and the right breeding decisions that support your goals.

Whether your herd calves in spring or autumn, you want cows that are easy to manage and capable of walking long distances in rough weather. Fertile cows with healthy hooves that live long and last long, generating a sustainable profit in the years to come.

Holstein and Red cows on pasture in Australia

What breeds are the best for seasonal calving?

At VikingGenetics, we've helped pasture-based farmer for decades breed healthy, fertile, long-lasting cows. We focus on health and high milk production in all our breeding programmes — and we have the most extensive data available to help you make profitable decisions.

Holstein, VikingRed and VikingJersey have some of the lowest use of antibiotics in the world combined with the highest lifetime production. Due to their Nordic roots, these breeds are excellent in processing roughage.

Being healthy at core with superior reproduction traits, the VikingGenetics breeds live longer and give you a higher lifetime profit. You get robust, medium-sized cows with a superior tolerance to weather extremes and strong feet with excellent hoof health.

When selecting bulls for your spring or autumn block, you get high index scores in:

  • Fertility (including easy calvings)
  • Hoof health, general health and udder health
  • Milking speed and production
  • Feet and legs
  • Medium-sized

Breeding solutions for pasture-based farmers

What type of cows would you like to breed in for your dairy business?

In our total merit index, you'll find over 90 traits of economic importance. Select a bull with a high score to match your breeding goals. Get better fertility, hoof health and milk production by choosing the right genetics.

Would you like a higher breeding progress focusing on the best cows in your herd?

Look into genomic testing, sexed semen and Beef on Dairy. These tools will help make your herd even easier to manage, more efficient and profitable.

How about more feed-efficient and climate-friendly cows?

By using our Saved Feed index, you can select bulls with a high feed-efficiency score. Reduce your feed costs and carbon footprint. Boost the profit and sustainability of your seasonal calving herd.

VikingGoldenCross - crossbreeding for seasonal calving

In recent years, many pasture-based dairy farmers have switched to crossbreeding due to the impressive results of these programmes.

VikingGoldenCross is a 3-breed rotational crossbreeding programme combining VikingHolstein, VikingRed and VikingJersey.

The combination of the three VikingGenetics breeds gives you:

  • Healthy, fertile, medium-sized grazing cows
  • A +9% higher relative conception rate compared to two-way crossbred cows in a pasture-based production
  • Higher fat and protein percentages and a higher lifetime production
  • A better dairy form and beef value by adding VikingRed as the third breed
  • An up to 86% heterosis effect

Would you like to learn more?

Contact us today
crossbred cow and calf on pasture