An assessment of the production, reproduction, and functional traits of Holstein-Friesian, Jersey × Holstein-Friesian, and Norwegian Red × (Jersey × Holstein-Friesian) cows in pasture-based systems

Abstract

Pasture-based production systems typically require highly fertile, healthy, and robust genetics, with greater emphasis on milk solids (MSo; kg of fat + protein) production as opposed to milk yield. This study assessed milk production, production efficiency, reproductive performance, body weight (BW), body condition score, and functional traits in 3 different dairy cow genotypes: Holstein-Friesian (HF), Jersey × Holstein-Friesian (JEX), and Norwegian Red × (Jersey × Holstein-Friesian) (3-way). The 3 genotypes were rotationally grazed on 4 different grazing treatments after calving in spring and were stocked at a rate of 2.75 cows/ha. Holstein-Friesian cows produced higher daily and total milk yields compared with JEX and 3-way cows (5,718 vs. 5,476 and 5,365 kg/cow, respectively). However, JEX and 3-way cows had higher milk fat and protein contents (4.86 and 4.75%, respectively, for JEX and 3.87 and 3.88%, respectively, for 3-way) compared with HF (4.52 and 3.72%), resulting in similar MSo yield for JEX and HF (469 and 460 kg/cow) and slightly lower MSo yield for 3-way (453 kg/cow) compared with JEX. As parity increased, milk and MSo yield per cow increased. Reproductive performance was not significantly different between the 3 genotypes, which had similar 24-d submission rates, 6-wk pregnancy rates, and overall pregnancy rates over the 4-yr period. No difference in calving difficulty, incidence of mastitis, or incidence of lameness was observed among the 3 genotypes. Body weight was significantly different among all 3 genotypes, with HF being the heaviest followed by 3-way and JEX (530, 499, and 478 kg, respectively), and 3-way cows had a higher body condition score throughout lactation compared with HF and JEX cows. The differences in BW coupled with similar MSo production resulted in JEX cows having the highest production efficiency (4.58 kg of MSo/kg of metabolic BW), 3-way cows being intermediate (4.30 kg of MSo/kg of metabolic BW), and HF cows having the lowest (4.16 kg of MSo/kg of metabolic BW). In conclusion, HF herds with poor reproductive performance and low milk fat and protein contents are likely to benefit considerably from crossbreeding with Jersey, and all herds are likely to benefit in terms of production efficiency. However, where herd performance, particularly in relation to reproductive performance, is comparable with HF in the current study, crossbreeding with Jersey or Norwegian Red is unlikely to lead to significant improvements in overall herd performance.

An economic comparison of pasture-based production systems differing in sward type and cow genotype

“…Additionally, the higher value of milk from crossbred animals similar to those used in this study has been reported before, in particular for Jersey crossbreds due to their higher milk fat and protein content compared with HF cows (Heins et al, 2008;Prendiville et al, 2011a;Coffey et al, 2016) and also for Norwegian Red crossbred animals (Heins et al, 2006;Walsh et al, 2008;Ferris et al, 2014). Although the difference in net profit per cow in this study is less than the €184 reported by Prendiville et al (2011b), there is still benefit to crossbreeding within pasturebased production systems, both economically and in terms of milk production efficiency (McClearn et al, 2020). The EBI reflects the relative contributions of the different traits to overall profitability.…”

The effect of Holstein-Friesian, Jersey × Holstein-Friesian, and Norwegian Red × (Jersey × Holstein-Friesian) cows on dry matter intake and production efficiencies in pasture-based systems

“…McClearn et al (2020a,b) reported on total lactation milk production, and reproductive and economic performance of the 3 genotypes used in this experiment and found similar MSo yield between HF and JEX, HF, and 3WAY but that 3WAY had lower MSo yield than JEX. Reproductive performance of all 3 genotypes was similar (McClearn et al, 2020a) but JEX were the most profitable on a per hectare basis, followed by 3WAY and HF (McClearn et al, 2020b). This paper investigated the differences in DMI and milk production efficiency between the 3 genotypes to further elucidate why the differences observed by Mc-Clearn et al (2020a,b) occurred.…”

“…Three cow genotypes were used for this experiment: HF, JEX, and 3WAY (McClearn et al, 2020a). Briefly, during the experiment HF cows were either mated with a HF sire to produce a HF cow or a Jersey sire to produce F 1 (first cross generation) crossbred JEX cows.…”

“…Dry matter intake is also influenced by milk yield per cow and BW, with larger and higher producing cows requiring a greater energy and therefore DMI (Dillon et al, 2006). Milk yield and BW are closely linked to parity as younger animals produce less milk and are lighter than older parity animals (Berry, 2015;McClearn et al, 2020a). Few studies present the results of differences in DMI between animals differing in parity (Bines, 1976;Jarrige et al, 1986;Kennedy et al, 2003) and the data collected in this study present an opportunity to investigate the interactions between cow genotype and parity on DMI and milk production efficiencies.…”

Milk, Fertility and Udder Health Performance of Purebred Holstein and Three-Breed Rotational Crossbred Cows within French Farms: Insights on the Benefits of Functional Diversity

“…For example, in F 1 crosses, 50% of genes comes from another breed than HO, but this other breed is not specified in our method. However, depending on whether it is Swiss Brown or Jersey, the characteristics provided by the breed may differ [ 37 ], and therefore, the performance of resulting cross with HO may differ too [ 28 , 43 ]. This may explain why we did not observe significant differences between F 1 and G 2 or between F 1 and HO for some traits.…”