Preliminary results on crossbreeding Jerseys with Fleckvieh sires

<strong>Preliminary</strong> <strong>results</strong> on crossbreeding
Jerseys with Fleckvieh sires
Dr. C.J.C. Muller & J.A.Botha
Western Cape Department of Agriculture,
Institute for Animal Production, Elsenburg,
South Africa
Introduction
Dual purpose breeds have up to
now not been seriously considered
by researchers in crossbreeding
programmes. This is mainly because
of the high emphasis on the milk
yield of cows affecting farm income.
The Fleckvieh breed (a Simmental
derived breed) from Bavaria
in Germany is such a dual purpose
Pure Jersey heifer calves (left camp) and Fleckvieh x Jersey crossbred heifers under identical conditions.
FLECKVIEHWorld 2008
breed that promises to increase the
beef production of a Jersey herd
while not affecting the milk yield of
crossbred females negatively. Purebred
Fleckviehs also produce milk
with high concentrations of fat and
protein and therefore crossing Jerseys
with Fleckviehs should not reduce
the total fat and protein yields
of crossbred cows. Another reason
why crossbreeding is being consi-
CROSSBREEDING 7
In South Africa the Jersey breed is very popular especially among dairy farmers using cultivated pastures
as a primary feed source. A major problem with Jerseys is that little income is generated by rearing bull
calves for beef while the sale of cull cows (for beef) also does not contribute significantly to herd income.
To improve this Jerseys have to be crossbred with other breeds with more beef potential. The usual crossbreeding
of Jerseys on Holsteins has become common practice in countries like Australia and New Zealand.
This is done to have cows that are supposedly better suited for their specific production systems.
The beef production of these crossbred animals is however not the same as when Jerseys were to be crossed
with a beef breed. Crossbreeding Jerseys with beef breeds on the other hand, <strong>results</strong> in female animals
that do not usually produce sufficient amounts of milk to be used as dairy cows.
dered by many farmers is because
of the improved reproductive performance
of crossbred cows.
Poor reproductive performance in
dairy herds increases the production
cost of milk because of a larger
number of non-producing animals
in the herd and a larger percentage
of cows in the herd producing milk
in the latter part of the lactation.

8 CROSSBREEDING
Little information is available in
South Africa on the effect of crossbreeding
dairy cows. Most crossbreeding
trials in other countries
have been conducted with Holsteins
while Jerseys have received
little attention being a breed with
relatively small numbers. The objective
of this study is to compare
the total income (milk and beef production)
of Jersey and Fleckvieh x
Jersey cows in an intensive feeding
system.
Materials and Methods
The study is being conducted at
the Elsenburg Research Station of
the Western Cape Department of
Agriculture. Elsenburg is situated
approximately 50 km east of Cape
Town at an altitude of 177m, longitude
18° 50’ and latitude 33° 51’
and is in the winter rainfall region
of South Africa. The area is characterised
by cool wet winters and
long dry summers. The Jersey
herd at Elsenburg was divided into
two groups according to age
and estimated breeding value for
milk yield. Groups were allocated
randomly to two treatments, i.e.
breeding with (i) Jersey or (ii)
Fleckvieh sires. In the following
breeding period, treatments will
be switched and female animals
All feed intake is measured at the research
facilities
Table 1:
The number and growth performance of all bull and
heifer calves born from Fleckvieh and Jersey sires
in the Elsenburg Jersey herd
Sire used
Parameters Jersey Fleckvieh
Number of cows calving down 31 32
Live weight of dams before calving (kg) 452 457
Number of calves born alive 28 26
Birth weight of calves (kg) 26.4 31.9
Number of calves at last weighing 24 26
Age at last weighing (days) 190 154
Live weight at last weighing (kg) 124.7 125.4
Average daiy gain (kg) 0.435 0.557
Calculated live weight at 6 m of age (kg) 106.5 133.5
will be inseminated with sires
from the other breed.
All pure- and crossbred bull and
heifers calves born from these
matings in the herd are being reared
in the same way. Heifers are
reared to calve down at approximately
24 months of age while
bull calves are reared to be marketed
at either six or 24 months of
age. The bull calves marketed at
six months of age are being reared
intensively for veal production.
Bull calves reared for beef
are castrated with a Burdizzo at
about three months of age and
reared on pasture from six
months of age. They receive a
concentrate supplementation of
2 kg per animal per day up to
12 months of age.
Heifers receive a calf starter meal
containing 18 % CP ad libitum
from 7 days of age until 2 months
of age. A growth meal containing
15 % CP is then provided ad libitum
until 5 months of age. At this
age, heifers are put on kikuyu pasture.
The pasture is supplemented
with a growth meal containing
15 % CP starting from 1 kg per calf
per day to a maximum of 3 kg per
calf per day until 15 months of
age. Heifers are inseminated from
13 months of age provided they
are heavier than 200 kg. Bull and
heifer calves are dehorned at two
months of age. Ease of calving resulting
from Fleckvieh and Jersey
sires is noted for all cows. After
calving, first lactation Jersey and
Fleckvieh x Jersey cows will be
put in zero-grazing open camps.
They will receive a total mixed ration
formulated according to the
NRC (2001) feeding requirements
for Jersey cows. The TMR’s will be
provided to the cows in feed
troughs on a daily basis to ensure
an ad libitum feed intake. Jersey
and crossbred cows will be kept in
separate open camps for daily
feed intake estimation once a
week. The milk yield and milk
composition of all pure- and
crossbred cows will be recorded
according to standard milk recording
procedures. Cows will be
weighed before and after calving
and thereafter every month until
the end of the lactation period. Body
condition score of each cow
will also be recorded at each weighing.
Cows will be inseminated
from 60 days of age and the reproductive
performance of each cow
recorded. Hormonal treatment to
get cows pregnant will be applied
when cows that are 150 days in
milk are not confirmed pregnant.
The total milk income for both
pure- and crossbred cows will be
determined using current milk prices.
Results and discussion
This project is still at a very early
stage. The insemination of Jersey
cows and heifers at Elsenburg
started in October 2005 and the
first calves were born in July 2006.
Although it would normally be
considered a risk to inseminate
FLECKVIEHWorld 2008

Jersey heifers with Fleckvieh sires,
because of the possibility of
distokia from larger than normal
birth weights of calves, heifers
and first lactation cows were also
inseminated with Fleckvieh semen
because of a small number of experimental
animals in the herd.
From the first round of inseminations,
63 Jersey cows had calved
down resulting in 28 purebred Jersey
calves and 26 Fleckvieh x Jersey
calves (Table 1).
The overall birth weights of Fleckvieh
x Jersey calves were heavier
than that of Jersey calves, i.e. 31.9
vs 26.4 kg.
At the last weighing date (August
2007), Jersey calves were older
(6.2 vs 5.1 months) explaining the
heavier liveweight of Jerseys in
comparison to Fleckvieh x Jersey
calves. This is related to the chronological
date of inseminations of
cows. Considering each calf’s average
daily gain and birth weight,
the calculated live weight of Fleckvieh
x Jersey calves at 6 months
of age was 25 % higher than that
of purebred Jersey calves. It
seems that under similar feeding
conditions, Fleckvieh x Jersey heifer
calves tend to grow at a growth
rate almost similar to that of Jersey
bull calves. The feeding level
of diets provided to crossbred heifers
should probably be lower
than for purebred heifers to prevent
excess fat deposition in the
udder of heifers as that could have
a negative effect on the milk yield
of cows after first calving.
Table 2:
FLECKVIEHWorld 2008
The number of calves born according
to lactation number and gender
since the start of the experiment
is presented in Table 2.
Although information is available
on a small number of calves, it
seems that birth weight increases
with lactation number and gender.
Three and five calves sired by Jersey
and Fleckvieh bulls died during
birth. These were mostly bull
calves, i.e two Jerseys and four
crossbreds. These were larger
than normal bull calves, i.e. in excess
of 45 kg. The proportion of
dead calves was similar for first
parity in comparison to older
cows. The number of calves surviving
after birth was similar for
both sire breeds. While Jersey
cows are known for their ability
for easy calving, close attention of
cows at calving should always be
a high priority. The birth weights
of heifer and bull calves in relation
to dam live weights were 5.6 and
6.4 % for Jerseys and 6.9 and
7.1 % for Fleckvieh x Jersey crossbreds
indicating the effect of gender
and breed.
Conclusion
This project is still at a very early
stage and <strong>results</strong> obtained should
be interpreted with care. The main
emphasis of the project is based
on the milk yield and reproductive
performance of crossbred cows in
comparison to purebred Jerseys.
Those <strong>results</strong> are still a long way
off.
The number and birth weights of calves and dam live
weights before calving sired by Fleckvieh and Jersey bulls
Parity of Jersey Fleckvieh
Parameters dams Heifers Bulls Heifers Bulls
Number of calves born 1 4 2 4 4
2 6 4 4 1
3+ 7 5 5 9
Birth weight (kg) 1 24.0 25.9 27.4 30.8
2 24.1 26.0 30.4 34.0
3+ 27.8 29.8 34.6 33.6
Dam live weight (kg) 1 425 367 408 399
2 477 446 458 341
3+ 469 460 490 510
CROSSBREEDING 9
Standardized conditions during the milk-feeding
period
Hippo-twins out of a Jersey cow. The white
spots on their heads are typical for F1 Fleckvieh
x Jersey (50 % Fleckvieh)