Han Hopman

June 2023

Herd reports

Bosgoed in the Netherlands: Three Decades of Consistent Crossbreeding with Holstein-Jersey-Brown Swiss

Brown Swiss, Jersey, Fleckvieh, Montbéliarde; the use of “Dairy Breeds” on Holsteins is taking place in a variety of forms in the Netherlands. The Bosgoed family in Denekamp, close to...

June 2023

Sires Report

Genosource Captain: America’s dominating Nr.1 bull

He has been reported on multiple times and justifiably so. Based on the current circumstances, it is time to share the newest information. In the USA and in Canada he...

June 2023

Herd reports

Morrill in New Hampshire Multi-faceted Family Farm with a Special Focus on Red Holsteins

Beautiful red & white descendants of Tri-Day Ashlyn, Gaige Highlight Tamara, and Rancon Carla Factor-Red – they can be admired in the far northeastern part of the US, on the...

May 2023

Herd reports

Golden-Oaks: The embryo market hasreally picked up again

Golden-Oaks has been an important name in Holstein breeding for generations. Located in an urban setting close to Chicago, Golden-Oaks has been a successful dairy operation and breeder of elite...

May 2023

Herd reports

Ruegruet Holsteins: Still one of the most interesting addresses in Switzerland

When we visited Ruegruet Holsteins almost 20 years ago, we found one of the most exciting addresses that Switzerland had to offer. Hardly any other farm had invested with similar...

May 2023

Cow Families

141 Years after her Emigration from Boksum to New YorkThe Family of America’s Historic Record Cow Pietertje is Still Performing in Friesland

No wonder that she became world famous: Pietertje 2, the Friesian cow that emigrated to America and there set a world record for production that stood for no less than...

May 2023

Herd reports

Big Holsteins: Already 103 cows with over 100,000 kg/220,000 lb by Breeding for Persistency and Late Maturity

With 103 cows >100,000 kg/220,000 lb milk and 29 cows >10,000 kg/22,000 lb fat+protein, the farm of the Knoef family (Big Holsteins) in eastern Netherlands is a true model of...

February 2023

Management

Van de Plashoeve: Source of Dutch Blue for Beef-on-Dairy

With 45 active AI sires at thirteen different breeding companies in their homeland and abroad, Morsink Dutch Blue is a significant source for the Beef-on-Dairy sector. For more than twenty...

April 2022

Cow Families

The Next Generation

Sommentier. A small village in the Swiss canton of Fribourg, in the western part of Switzerland. Perhaps you have never heard of Sommentier before… but you have certainly heard of...

April 2022

Herd reports

The New Future of Sandy-Valley Holsteins

Around the New Year, news came: the well-known breeding enterprise Sandy-Valley Holsteins in the American state of Wisconsin was discontinuing. HI launched the news via both its publication “Holstein International”...

April 2022

Management

Excluding Genomics: Would That Give Us a More Accurate Measure of a Proven Sire’s Genetic Merit?

Recently a breeder contacted Holstein International with an interesting question…’Once a bull gets a number of daughters in production why don’t they just remove the genomics from his proof altogether?...

April 2022

Sires Report

Elite Sires of Sons Captain & AltaZazzle:Both Bring Good-old ME Tony Back into View!

Last month we mentioned them in HI’s editorial: the junior Genosource Captain and Peak AltaZazzle are far and away the most influential sires of sons in America’s gTPI top-100. Together...