Journal articles on the topic 'Fleckvieh and Jersey cows – Crossbreeding'

The scientific research analysis of crossbreeding using in dairy cattle of guiding countries has been implemented. There has been proved, that positive results of crossbreeding can be only for observing methodical basis of its using. They are: successful selection of initial-breeds, types and plans of theirs crossing, definition of feeding conditions and management of crossbred animals, application of methods of traits valuing, directed selection of bulls.
 Methodical bases of crossbreeding using in dairy cattle are following:
 - clear determination of main aim of crossbreeding program;
 - selection of improve breed may realize not for the most positive but for the less number of traits.
 A complementary breed shouldn’t have lower milk productivity but higher level of traits, for the sake of which it is selected to crossbreeding. It should be suitable to concrete system of milk production, have satisfactory population, the ramified genealogy and sufficient number of bulls-improvers.
 Plan of crossing significantly influences on the results of crossbreeding. The complex rotational crossing using 3-4 selected unrelated breeds is effective.
 The bulls, which are selected to crossbreeding, should have the highest estimation for traits, by which the selection is being carried out. They should be free from of exterior and genetic defects.
 The selection level should correspond to pure breeding.
 The innerbreed crossbreeding of Ukrainian Red-and-White dairy cows with top bulls of Montbeliarde, Holstein Red-and-White and Fleckvieh breeds has been suggested.

In Hungary crossbreeding wit Jersey has been in practice since 2004. Uniquely in the Hungarian history of the Jersey breed two times fifty head pregnant heifers were imported in 2006. The aim of our study is to present through the description of the production and the type traits of the population the inherent possibilities of Jersey. The breed is presented by the figures of the rolling lactations, 305 day milk production, correlations between the traits and by the results of the evaluation of type traits. Analyses of the data were done by using independent samples t-test.Based on data of 87 cows the average number of days in milk is 308 and 48 cows has finished lactation. During the rolling lactation they produced 5050 kg milk with 5.34% fat and 3.8% protein content.The first lactation Jersey cows’ production when corrected to 305 days was 5089 kg milk with 5.35% fat and 3.81% protein. Between the herds there was significant difference in milk kg, amount of fat produced, protein content and amount of protein produced. On the two farms distribution of cows belonging to different production levels is very different. The biggest difference is when categorized by the amount of milk produced.Correlation between the milk kg and fat kg is the greatest (r=0.950). Similar values were obtained for the correlation between fat and protein kg (r=0.919) and for the milk kg and fat kg (r=0,898). Disposition of the Jersey cows is very well balanced. Their stature, strength, body depth, dairy form, rump angle and pin width is favorable, the average scores are between 4.5 and 6.5. The leg of the cows is a bit sickly, and is hocking in a little with medium-low angled hoof. Average values of all traits describing the udder are between 4 and 5. Cows belonging to the two herds differ by disposition. Significant difference exists in the following traits: body depth, dairy form, pin width, rear leg - side view, rear leg, rear view, foot angle, fore udder attachment, teat length. TheJersey population imported to Hungary has a final score of 78 points which equals with the “good” qualification.

SummaryThe aim of this study was to characterise the Polish Red cattle breed, the only existing native breed in Poland. The origin and conformation of this breed and its historical development, distribution and performance were described. Moreover, the attention was paid to the attempts to improve the breed milk performance by crossbreeding with Jersey, Danish Red and Angler and beef performance by crossbreeding with Black-and-White, Red-and-White, Simmental and beef bulls.Before the Second World War the Polish Red held the rank of an international breed, and since the middle of the previous century had been found almost throughout Poland. In the 1950s it still constituted 22% of the whole cattle population in Poland. Indeed in 1954 the Polish Red cattle population amounted to over 1.5 million head. Currently, Polish Red cattle are in danger of extinction. Only 300 cows are included in the Program of Genetic Resources Conservation and scarcely several hundred embryos and semen doses are stored in the Semen Bank of the National Research Institute of Animal Production in Balice.In 2001 the number of recorded Polish Red milking cows was 1 201. Their average performance amounted to 3 786 kg of milk with 4.26% of fat and 3.39% of protein. However, milk yield of the cows at the best farms exceeded 5 500 kg.

In New Zealand, crossbreeding is largely used by dairy farmers. Currently an important proportion of cows are crossbreds, mostly Holstein-Friesians (HF) x Jersey (JE). Crossbred bulls are currently being progeny tested in New Zealand. Actually, more than one third of the replacement dairy heifers are crossbred animals (Montgomerie, 2002). However currently available methods to model genetic contributions of purebreds to crossbreds take breed differences only partly into account and therefore do not permit an optimal use of crossbred data. The first objective of our study was to allow the modelling of different additive breeding values according to parental breeds to define overall additive breeding values as a function of breed composition.

The objective of this study was to estimate heritability and crossbreeding parameters (breed and heterosis effects) of various fatty acid (FA) concentrations in milk fat of New Zealand dairy cattle. For this purpose, calibration equations to predict concentration of each of the most common FAs were derived with partial least squares (PLS) using mid-infrared (MIR) spectral data from milk samples (n=850) collected in the 2003–04 season from 348 second-parity crossbred cows during peak, mid and late lactation. The milk samples produced both, MIR spectral data and concentration of the most common FAs determined using gas chromatography (GC). The concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) between the concentration of a FA determined by GC and the PLS equation ranged from 0·63 to 0·94, suggesting that some prediction equations can be considered to have substantial predictive ability. The PLS calibration equations were then used to predict the concentration of each of the fatty acids in 26 769 milk samples from 7385 cows that were herd-tested during the 2007–08 season. Data were analysed using a single-trait repeatability animal model. Shorter chain FA (16 : 0 and below) were significantly higher (P<0·05) in Jersey cows, while longer chain, including unsaturated longer chain FA were higher in Holstein-Friesian cows. The estimates of heritabilities ranged from 0·17 to 0·41 suggesting that selective breeding could be used to ensure milk fat composition stays aligned to consumer, market and manufacturing needs.

The presence of interbreeding genetic differences in certain dairy rocks provided the use of analytical crossing allows get an improvement in a number of economically important breeding traits in local livestock in terms of quality of dairy productivity, reproductive capacity and other economically useful features. It is established that the crossbreeds of the first generation are Ukrainian black-spotted dairy x Jersey breed (F1½UCHRM × ½D) in LLC "Khmilnytske" on production units have much higher rates than dairy productivity. Thus, hopes increased by (330–386 kg), milk fat – (26.0–29.7 kg) and protein – (17.3–20.2) kg under the same feeding conditions and maintenance. Much higher reproductive performance is observed in first-generation crossbreeds (F1½UCHRM × ½D): number of inseminations per one fertilization is significantly reduced; the number of heavy calves decreases and stillborn animals. High quality in terms of lightness of hotels in combined with a low incidence of newborn calves are a good basis for economic indicators of dairy farming cattle. The results of the study will be used for determining the most effective options for further crossbreeding on a certain part of the population (not more than 30%) in order to prevent a decrease reproductive capacity and viability of local cattle from cows domestic dairy breeds It is established that at interbreeding Holstein Jersey breeds in first generation crossbreeds (F1½Г × ½Д) there is a decrease in milk yield, but an increase in fat content milk. Live weight, number of heavy calves and decreased stillborn animals. The Holstein breed is the undisputed world breed leader among specialized dairy breeds. Holstein animals intensively and effectively used to improve the majority dairy breeds in Ukraine.

At the present stage, the development of dairy farming needs to focus on increasing the livestock population with high productive indicators in the large-scale sector. In the period from 2000 to 2020, the number of cows in Ukraine decreased by 2.8 times (from 4958.3 thousand heads on 01.01.2001 to 1788.5 thousand heads on 01.01.2020), and in agricultural enterprises – by 4.2 times (from 1851.0 to 438.6 thousand heads respectively). An important factor in the growth of the large-scale sector should be the revival of the national selection system. Therefore, the issue of scientific substantiation of the organizational principles of effective management of breeding dairy cattle breeding is now of particular urgency.
 The purpose of the article is to carry out an evaluation of genetic resources of breeding dairy cattle Ukraine. The research was conducted on the observation materials of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the International Committee for Animal Recording, the State Register of subjects of breeding business in livestock breeding by using statistical methods.
 Cattle breeds are differ according to economic indicators of useful traits of animals, including the level of productivity, which significantly influences the economic efficiency of production. According to ICAR (The International Committee for Animal Recording), cows of the Holstein breed remain the leaders, whose productivity for the 305 days of lactation is at the level of 9–11 thousand kg of milk. Such achievements are the result of a long intensive breeding work aimed at increasing milk production.
 Among other breeds, which cow' productivity approachs the animals Holstein breed, Ayrshire (up to 9.0 thousand kg), Braunvieh, Montbeliarde, Fleckvieh, Norwegian Red, Swedish Red, Jersey (7.0–8.0 thousand kg) are next. A number of breeds are distinguished by qualitative features of dairy productivity. For example, the fat content in milk of cows of the Jersey breed of Canadian breeding is 5.1%. The milk productivity of these breeds is lower than Holstein dairy cows. But they have significant benefits in functional traits such as high reproductive capacity, extended duration of economic use, high payment of feed by the resulting products, which increases their competitiveness to the level of animals of the Holstein breed.
 In Ukraine, the highest milk productivity is Holstein (8965 kg), Fleckvieh (8877 kg), Ukrainian Black and White Dairy (7486 kg) and Ukrainian Red and White Dairy (6997 kg). Currently, in 344 breeding herds, 137.8 thousand cows are kept, which is one third less than 10 years ago. The most numerous is the Ukrainian Black and White Dairy – 68.829 purebred cows, or 49.9% in the structure of dairy cattle breeding herds. The share of Holstein – 25.2%, Ukrainian Red and White Dairy is 14.4%.
 It should be noted the extremely insufficient number of cows of the active part of the livestock (breeding stock-rearing farms that are certified as subjects of the tribal affairs and conduct breeding records) – 29.5% of the number of cows kept in agricultural enterprises, and 7.7% – at farms all categories. For example, in Israel (the world leader in the cows’ milk productivity in level about 12 thousand kg per cow) it is more than 90%. In other countries with a developed dairy industry, this figure is at 90% – in Denmark, 86% in Sweden, and 70% in Canada. The low proportion of the recorded dairy livestock in Ukraine greatly complicates the process of improving high-yielding herds.
 Over the past ten years, the number of breeding stock-rearing farms in Ukraine has doubled. Among them there was a tendency for livestock consolidation. Average number of cows in herds the breeding stock-rearing farms was: in 2007 – 241 heads, in 2012 – 334, in 2017 – 373, in 2019 – 401. In 2007–2019, as a result of ongoing concentrations of livestock, the average size of a purebred dairy herd increased almost one and a half times, which, due to the scale effect, made it possible for enterprises to reduce production costs per unit.
 The average milk yield of purebred cows in industrial enterprises increased from 4606 kg in 2007 to 7653 kg in 2019, or almost one and a half times. Due to the effect of the factor of natural biological antagonism on the milk productivity and reproductive capacity of cows, the raising of productivity with an increase in the heredity of the Holstein breed has led to a decrease in the calving output of 100 cows, and a decrease in the length of the commercial use of cows. This trend is also characteristic of all newly created dairy breeds. In particular, from Ukrainian Black and White Dairy cows the calving output per 100 cows decreased from 82.8 heads in 2006 to 77.4 in 2019; Ukrainian Red and White Dairy respectively from 82.2 to 69.5 calves; Ukrainian Red Dairy, where the proportion of the heredity of the Holstein breed is slightly lower than the first two, the calving rate dropped at lower pace.
 According to the results of dairy cattle recording, among the domestic breeds the highest milk productivity is in the Ukrainian Black and White Dairy cows – 7364 kg with a fat content of 3.74%, protein 3.22%; Ukrainian Red and White Dairy – respectively 6989; 3.78; 3.27; Ukrainian Red Dairy – 6549; 3.90; 3.26. Domestic breeds on genetic potential are at the level of the best European analogues, and according to indicators of reproduction and health they prevail them.
 Consequently, the breed of cows is an important factor in the economic efficiency of dairy cattle-breeding. Due to the long intensive selection work on cattle breeds, the milk productivity of cows in developed livestock countries has reached levels of 8.0–10.0 thousand kg and more for 305 days of lactation. The number of cows in breeding farms in Ukraine for 2006–2019 has decreased by 38 thousand head, or by 22%. The average milk yield of purebred cows in industrial enterprises increased from 4606 kg in 2007 to 7653 kg in 2019, or almost one and a half times. But the extremely insufficient number of cows of the active part of the livestock greatly complicates the process of improving high-yielding herds. In the breeding structure of pedigree dairy cattle, animals of Ukrainian Black and White Dairy (49.9%), Holstein breeds (25.2%) and Ukrainian Red and White Dairy (14.4%) prevail.

During a 4-year period (1994–97) of the Australian ‘Southern Crossbreeding Project’, mature Hereford cows (n = 637) were mated to 97 sires from 7 breeds (Jersey, Wagyu, Angus, Hereford, South Devon, Limousin and Belgian Blue), resulting in 1334 calves. Heifers were slaughtered at around 16 months and steers at 23 months. The objective of the study was to quantify between- and within-breed genetic variation for numerous production and quality traits in a southern-Australian production system. Calf survival, birth weight and carcass production traits (carcass weight, fat depth, loin eye area, intramuscular fat) were obtained from these cattle. The carcass traits were loge-transformed because of a scale effect on the variance. Data were analysed using multi-variate animal models containing fixed effects of sex with random effects of management group, sire breed and animal. In addition, birth month and age of dam were included as fixed effects for birth weight. Covariances between survival and other traits could not be estimated from the multi-variate model so they were estimated from a series of bi-variate models. On average, management group and sire breed accounted for similar proportions of variance. Heritability ranged from 0.14 (survival), 0.17 (intramuscular fat), 0.28 (loin eye area), 0.29 (P8 fat depth), 0.31 (birth weight) to 0.50 (carcass weight). In general, environmental (management and residual) correlations between meat (carcass weight and loin eye area) and fat traits (fat depth and intramuscular fat) were positive, but the genetic correlations (both between and within breed) were negative. Management and genetic (co)variation has been quantified and can facilitate production of calves with carcasses suitable for specific market requirements.

Abstract The trend in crossbreeding the indigenous and resilient “Ankole” cattle with imported high performant breeds in Rwanda, believed to boost milk production while tempering on adaptive traits to local environment, leaves cautions on a profiling “genetic erosion” of Ankole. It is uncertain establishing whether new crossbreeds would acquire necessary resilience to parasites and climate stressors, where access to data records is unfordable. The objective of this study was to assess the environmental effect on milk yield (MY) in Ankole and its crossbreeds (with Holstein Frisian-AF, Jersey-AJ and Sahiwal-AS). Data of daily MY (61984 records; n = 188 cows), ambient temperature and relative humidity have been recorded from 2 research farms (Rubona-2.5536’ S, 29.6014’ and Songa-2.24’S, 29.46’E) located in the mid-altitude zone (1400–1500 m.a.s.l), on a period of 4 years (2014–2017). Fixed effects of Temperature-Humidity Index (THI, measure of Heat Stress), parity, genotype and station on MY have been investigated, using a General Linear Model (Y = μ+ p + g + s + rTHI + ℮; SAS 9.4). Results indicated an overall negative effect of THI threshold values on ML (P > 0.0001), with an aggregate decline slope of 0.12kg/day/THI. Ankole breed showed a lower ML decline slope (0.02 kg/day/THI) after the THI threshold of 75, suggesting its ability to resist in heat stress with relatively milder effect on its daily milk yield. However, although with important MY loss induced by THI as compared to Ankole, results suggested the ability of crossbreeds to withstand higher levels of THI thresholds evaluated at 76 with a decline slope of 0.08kg/day/THI and 0.12kg/day/THI, respectively for AH and AJ, while THI thresholds for AS was found at 77 (0.12kg/day/THI). The observed relative resistance of Ankole crossbreds to higher heat stress levels would suggest a possible heterosis effect.

A dairy cattle crossbreeding has been started in 1930s to improve cow milk production, using exotic breeds such as Holstein Friesian and Jersey to exploit breed complementarities of milk production and reproductive traits. Crossbred cows with 50% to 75% blood level able to produce more milk whereas, reproductive performance has decreased as exotic blood level exceeds beyond 50%. Environment and genotype mismatch, lack of appropriate breeding policy and recording system, poor infrastructure, lack of trained man power, improper use of artificial insemination and low adoption of breeding technologies are some of the constraints of dairy cattle crossbreeding in Ethiopia. Defining the suitable breed and blood level for specific production system, continuous skill updating for artificial insemination technicians and introducing appropriate recording system are the most critical points that should be considered during proposing of cross-breeding program for dairy cattle. The purpose of this review was to look at the challenges and opportunities of dairy cattle crossbreeding programs in Ethiopia.

Deep RNA sequencing experiment was employed to detect putative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in mammary epithelial cells between two diverse cattle breeds (Jersey and Kashmiri) to understand the variations in the coding regions that reflect differences in milk production traits. The low milk-producing Kashmiri cattle are being replaced by crossbreeding practices with Jersey cattle with the aim of improving milk production. However, crossbred animals are prone to infections and various other diseases resulting in unsustainable milk production. In this study, we tend to identify high-impact SNPs from Jersey and Kashmiri cows (utilizing RNA-Seq data) to delineate key pathways mediating milk production traits in both breeds. A total of 607 (442 SNPs and 169 INDELs) and 684 (464 SNPs and 220 INDELs) high-impact variants were found specific to Jersey and Kashmir cattle, respectively. Based on our results, we conclude that in Jersey cattle, genes with high-impact SNPs were enriched in nucleotide excision repair pathway, ABC transporter, and metabolic pathways like glycerolipid metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, and amino acid synthesis (glycine, serine, and threonine). Whereas, in Kashmiri cattle, the most enriched pathways include endocytosis pathway, innate immunity pathway, antigen processing pathway, insulin resistance pathway, and signaling pathways like TGF beta and AMPK which could be a possible defense mechanism against mammary gland infections. A varied set of SNPs in both breeds, suggests a clear differentiation at the genomic level; further analysis of high-impact SNPs are required to delineate their effect on these pathways.

Background: Kashmir Valley, one of the temperate regions of India, has experienced an exponential increase in the milk-production over the last decades. This may be mainly attributed to massive cross-breeding of ‘Local Cattle of Kashmir Valley’ with the world-class dairy breeds like Jersey and Holstein-Friesian (HF), popularly known as Jersey-Crossbreds (JCB) and Holstein-Friesian Crossbreds (HFCB), respectively. However, no specific guidelines on their breed characteristics is available, which is crucial for their establishment, recognition and management. Precise and standardized morphological details are a primary requisite for application of advanced technologies like automation, Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. Therefore, the present study aimed to characterize the HFCB and JCB cows. Methods: Morphologic and morphometric traits of 600 and 447 cows respectively, reared in the Srinagar district of Kashmir, were studied in detatil as per the standard methods. The null-hypothesis set was that the two crossbreds do not differ from each other. Result: It was observed that two crossbreds differed significantly (p less than 0.05) with each other in respect of the morphological and morphometrical traits like body size and weight. The study generated a baseline data on these two crossbreds, which is critical not only for their recognition, welfare and scientific management, but shall also act as a reference for global researchers to assess the results of crossbreeding superior dairy breeds in improving the genetic-merit of other breeds worldwide.