| Breed | # Cows | Milk/Day | ECM/Day | FCM/Day | %Fat | %Protein | DIM | LgSCC | 305ME |
| Totals and Averages | 435 | 79 | 86 | 87 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 218 | 3.3 | 26888 |
| All Crossbreds | 241 | 75 | 85 | 86 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 213 | 3.6 | 25970 |
| Holstein | 194 | 83 | 87 | 88 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 225 | 3.0 | 28042 |
| Jersey X Holstein | 76 | 76 | 87 | 88 | 4.6 | 3.6 | 216 | 3.7 | 26475 |
| Swedish Red X Holstein | 26 | 84 | 90 | 91 | 4.0 | 3.3 | 197 | 4.3 | 26258 |
| Swedish Red X Jersey X Holstein | 25 | 70 | 83 | 83 | 4.6 | 3.5 | 225 | 3.3 | 25140 |
| Jersey X Swedish Red X Holstein | 15 | 75 | 90 | 92 | 4.8 | 3.6 | 196 | 3.9 | 25544 |
| Holstein X Swedish Red X Jersey X Holstein | 8 | 68 | 76 | 76 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 248 | 3.3 | 28184 |
| Brown Swiss X Holstein | 8 | 84 | 92 | 92 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 283 | 3.1 | 28842 |
| Swedish Red X Brown Swiss X Holstein | 6 | 70 | 76 | 77 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 208 | 4.8 | 23890 |
| Ayrshire X Holstien | 5 | 68 | 79 | 81 | 4.8 | 3.3 | 223 | 2.0 | 26042 |
| Swedish Red X Jersey X Jersey X Holstein | 4 | 69 | 91 | 93 | 5.6 | 3.8 | 248 | 3.6 | 25980 |
| Normande X Holstein | 4 | 74 | 81 | 82 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 204 | 3.4 | 23760 |
| Swedish Red X Montbeliarde X Holstein | 4 | 78 | 86 | 89 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 197 | 4.0 | 25622 |
| Jersey X Jersey X Holstein | 3 | 88 | 102 | 103 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 272 | 2.8 | 26330 |
| Finnish Ayrshire X Jersey X Holstein | 3 | 79 | 90 | 89 | 4.4 | 3.7 | 246 | 4.4 | 28027 |
| Brown Swiss X Jersey X Holstein | 3 | 84 | 97 | 97 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 239 | 5.0 | 27127 |
| Montbeliarde X Swedish Red X Holstein | 3 | 71 | 83 | 85 | 5.0 | 3.3 | 148 | 2.6 | 22960 |
| Montbeliarde X Holstein | 3 | 85 | 89 | 90 | 3.9 | 3.2 | 323 | 3.9 | 29313 |
| Jersey X Brown Swiss X Holstein | 3 | 76 | 95 | 97 | 5.3 | 3.8 | 229 | 2.3 | 25993 |
| Red Dane X Holstein | 3 | 98 | 97 | 98 | 3.5 | 3.0 | 142 | 3.6 | 26477 |
| Montbeliarde X Jersey X Holstein | 3 | 72 | 82 | 82 | 4.3 | 3.6 | 191 | 3.4 | 27527 |
| Finnish Ayrshire X Holstein | 3 | 72 | 73 | 75 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 91 | 1.8 | 23903 |
| Holstein X Jersey X Swedish Red X Holstein | 3 | 61 | 70 | 72 | 4.7 | 3.4 | 96 | 1.6 | 21535 |
| Norwegian Red X Jersey X Holstein | 2 | 63 | 71 | 72 | 4.4 | 3.5 | 192 | 1.4 | 23710 |
| Ayrshire X Jersey X Holstein | 2 | 76 | 81 | 82 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 174 | 1.6 | 25375 |
| Illawarra X Jersey X Holstein | 2 | 59 | 60 | 60 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 134 | 5.1 | 19350 |
| Holstien X Jersey X Holstein | 2 | 92 | 100 | 102 | 4.2 | 3.2 | 110 | 3.8 | 23895 |
| Norwegian Red X Holstein | 1 | 112 | 126 | 132 | 4.6 | 3.0 | 202 | 1.6 | 34970 |
- One thing I’ve been watching with interest is the percentage of Holsteins in the herd. I’m now at a 55% crossbred/45% Holstein split. With the way I’m trending, in the current herd structure I’ll never be over 200 milking Holsteins again. Theoretically, the breeding program I used before I went 100% crossbreeding should have yielded about a 50/50 split of Holstein and crossbred. By virtue of superior reproduction and survivability, the crossbreds are naturally pushing the Holsteins out of the herd. In a survival of the fittest environment, the crossbreds are winning. While I’ve got some very nice old Holsteins, my “old cow” pen (lactation 4+) is beginning to fill up with crossbreds. It seems like the third lactation has always been a big hurdle to jump for any cow in my herd, and the crossbreds seem better equipped to clear this hurdle. While I’m confident advocating an “all-in” approach to crossbreeding, I don’t regret having what will essentially be about eight years of observing crossbreds of many different kinds living side by side with pure Holsteins that were heavily selected for health and fitness.
- SCS was high overall in February but I feel we’ll show some headway being made in March. Cow that have calved since January have maintained lower somatic cell counts so it’s probably a matter of cycling out the elevated cows and giving them a dry period to clear up. The underlying issues seem to be taken care of and it’s a matter of patience while it works itself out.
- I’m going to start having more Norwegian Red sired cows milking starting in March. I’ll have the first second lactation Norwegian Red calving soon along with a number of heifers coming. I had a Hjulstad daughter calve in and I’m beginning to think that Braut is going to become one of my favorites. I’ll be working on a photo post with a number of Norwegian Red daughters soon.
- Some of the calves that I photographed when I started this blog are starting to calve in or are very close to calving in. It makes sense as I started this two years ago. One of the more interesting (in my mind) was from the post Combining Two Extremes, posted exactly two years ago from tomorrow. A Guernsey X Montbeliarde X Holstein three-way cross, she will be calving in April. She’s already looking to be a very balanced heifer, so it’ll be interesting to see what she does. Here is a picture of her as a weaned calf:
