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The Bliss family has supplied many of the highlights in Holstein breeding for Hardwood Holsteins in Wisconsin for almost 50 years. Milking members of the family currently in the Hardwood barn can be traced back through 1...

In April 2015, Australia was the first country in the world that published a breeding value for feed efficiency. The Netherlands followed in December 2020, and since April the USA and Canada also have a breeding value fo...

Earlier already, we reported about Arcowin, the cooperative agreement between three large European AI cooperatives: Evolution (France), Masterrind (Germany) and VikingGenetics (Scandinavia). Initially, it involved workin...

In an era where mergers and cooperatives generate headlines within the breeding industry, the founding of new breeding companies is a rarity. Despite this, the industry has recently seen the establishment of several priv...

The surge in use of beef bulls on lower genetic merit dairy cows continues to grow, and part of the evolution in this market is the use of male sexed beef semen. This month we introduce Semex from Canada and Superblu fro...

South Africa has among the largest average herd size of any country worldwide. Of all animals registered by South Africa Holstein, 97% are the result of imported semen, producing a very open genetic pool including the be...

This year, World Wide Sires celebrates its 50th anniversary. Established by the Californian Holstein breeder and entrepreneur Bill Clark in 1971, WWS has been the international representative for all American AI cooperat...

‘Both of these cows are very valuable to me. They differ in colour, but otherwise, they are virtually the same. They have both calved three times, both expect their fourth calf in June, both are pregnant to Reeve-Red, bo...

This month our regular guest-writer – An American Dairyman – is wondering how to make outcross work: And how to get value from outcross. Levels of inbreeding percentage are increasing worldwide, warnings for inbreeding a...

What follows is a special story: About a special breeder: One who is not concerned in the least with the aspect of “inbreeding”. Armed with a tremendous treasure of pedigree knowledge, he makes deliberate matings like th...

There is a wealth of information available to help select the right bulls to use in your herd: Total merit rankings, genomics, linear traits, pedigree and cow family information… the list goes on. Once you have selected...

It may well seem like your cows are becoming less able to deal with the stress of a hot summer’s day – feed intake drops, respiration rates go up, and production goes down. Higher producing cows have to metabolize greate...

For years, live streaming and online bidding have been standard practice for auctions worldwide. The current Coronavirus pandemic has made the trend even more popular. And the experiences have largely been positive. A we...

The surge in use of beef bulls on lower genetic merit dairy cows continues to grow, and part of the evolution in this market is the use of male sexed beef semen. This month we introduce Evolution from France, and Genetic...

In recent years, there has been necessary attention for the increasingly straighter rear leg position in Holsteins. Too often we see young animals that have much straighter rear legs than optimal from side view, often re...