Although the Czech Republic, with its Fleckvieh population of around 140,000 cows, does not have one of the largest herds in the world, it has quality which is recognized by dairy farmers worldwide. No wonder that bulls that are popular with Czech farmers are also very interesting for large commercial farms worldwide. A good example is Montbéliarde bull Bonsai, who has just recently received results from his second-crop daughters.

PhenomenonBoNsAi

onsai’s dam, sired by Brac, produced 11,697kg of milk with

3.56% protein in her fourth lactation and reached a lactation value of 151. In her lifetime, she produced 57,465kg milk in six lactations. Due to her high breeding values, both for milk production and type (82-75-79-81), she was contracted as a bull dam and flushed intensively. except of her own six heifers, she delivered another 13 heifer calves and 14 bull calves via eT. Five daughters were contracted as bull dams and two of them are full-sisters to Bonsai. Bonsai scored well at the end of his rearing period at the station. he used to be the number-one bull in the Czech top list thanks to his milk production and he also was among the best bulls in the Interbull evaluation. he is one of those few bulls that have good fat and protein content despite producing a high volume of milk. Calving is trouble-free so it is possible to use Bonsai on maiden heifers. From 7,442 heifers that have already calved, 81% were easy calvings. It’s a similar story with his daughters, of which 82% had easy calvings. Referring to his 17 daughters that featured at a recent progeny show, CRV CZ Fleckvieh

B

NEW BoNsMARA AND BRANGUs BULLs

CRV Xseed added five Bonsmara bulls and a Brangus bull to their beef line-up.

CRV XsEED DAiRYCiDE FARMERs DAY

CRV Xseed and its supplier of Dairycide together organised a Farmers day with Dr Inge-mari Petzer.

CLAW MANAGEMENT

Focus on management plays a key role in controlling claw health. Important factors are regular trimming, sensible nutrition and comfortable housing amongst others.2 43

CRV XsEED TiMEs | issUE 12 noVemBeR 2012

CRV XsEED TImeS

Daughter BonsaiDaughter Bonsai

breeding manager Danuse Kolarova says: “They were uniform and had big frames, very good strength, chest width and body depth as well as good udder conformation.”Bonsai’s daughters show dairy character with good frames and rump conformation, combined with strong feet and legs. Udders

BiG WiNNER (Win 395 x Lucky Leo x Pinkpop)

At the Dutch hhh show, last December, Jos Knoef received the “Breeder of the Year” award. Along with his wife Ingrid, Jos Knoef manages a high-producing herd that includes a record number of 100,000 kg cows. Big Winner, their first proven bull, entered the top-15 of the bull ranking 18 months after his debut. erik Laarhuis, sire analyst for owner KI Kampen, selected two Big Winner progeny groups. ‘In 2010 I saw 80 somewhat round and narrow two-year olds which, based on their late-maturity, reminded me of Comestar Leader daughters; in my opinion not the kind of very stylish two year-olds that would develop into exemplary older cows. however, the Winners do exceed my expectations. The 2nd-calver daughters are average sized and as always very well-balanced with functional udders and legs. Different from their first lactation, they now show a nice-looking, dairy body. Winner daughters develop into mature cows that work and are able to produce lots of milk.’ The way Winners’ index develops confirms Laarhuis’ observations. The negative milk rating of the first lactation has turned to positive. Winner combines a high-percentage production proof with good type across the board and and high breeding values for daughter fertility and longevity. The breeding value for cell count is progressing positively and not hurting udder health. Winner is bred from Super Star 25 eX-90, a Lucky Leo daughter who produced various bull dams. his pedigree (including a 100,000 kg granddam and a Blackstar great-granddam with 140,000 kg milk traces back to the American Danacor Bell Sundae eX-90 (Bell x Ace Willow). The potential for high lifetime production is further confirmed by Sundae’s British granddaughter, Astonak mT Sundae eX-95 (160,000 kg milk). (Source: Holstein International)

are long at the front, have good central ligaments and teat placement is excellent. Another advantage is kappa-casein BB in their milk.

Bonsai’s successorTop-class parameters of Bonsai’s family are

confirmed by another excellent descendant – bull Galileo, born out of Bonsai’s sister CZ 124771 301, sired by osmium. Galileo’s outstanding results, which surpass even his sire’s BVs, mean that he will be a respectable successor of Bonsai.

sECoNDARY TRAiTs TmI Long Cal. ease milk. sp. SCC

126.2 119 104 98 107

FiTNEss FertP Fertm CPp CPm Long SCC msp

90 97 104 92 119 107 98

Kg of milk % fat % protein kg fat kg protein mI +797 +0.08 +0.08 +40 +31 125

PRoDUCTioN Reliability 95 % | Daughters 197

2 LoCAL neWS CRV XsEED TiMEs noVemBeR 2012

CRV XsEED DAiRYCiDE FARMERs DAY WITh DR. InGe-mARI PeTZeR

FoKKo ToLsMA In KWAZULU nATALDuring the last week of July, Fokko Tolsma, Dairy management Consultant at CRV, visited several farmers in KwaZulu natal. Fokko is well known all over the world for his practical way of sharing his knowledge. he travels around the world visiting cattle farms to improve their farm profits by enriching farmers and herd managers with insights and advice. he also gives presentations and training on various farm management aspects. It was very good

CRV Xseed and its supplier of Dairycide together organised a Farmers day with Dr Inge-mari Petzer at nanaga Farm stall on the 25th of September. Topic of the day was Udder health. The day started with a talk of Dr Petzer, in which she discussed several case studies and problems that farmers experience. After lunch, the group went to malcom mackenzies’ dairy. Dr Petzer divided the attendants into small groups and discussed the working of the milking machine and the milking routine.

Checking the manure in the field

Fokko Tolsma giving a hoof trimming course

Lecture of Dr. Inge-mari Petzer at nanaga Farm stall

Dr. Inge-mari Petzer with Brent and Wilmien Gibbens

Lecture of Fokko Tolsma at mPo meeting

Furthermore she inspected the udders of the cows while they were being milked. In total a group of 40 farmers attended this day and they went home with a gift bag full of valuable products to use in the milking parlour. CRV Xseed would like to thank Dr Inge-mari Petzer for her inspiring talk and practical, nanaga Farm stall for hosting this day, malcom mackenzie for inviting the group into his dairy and Paul Reynolds of Dairycide and Rina Büchner of CRV Xseed for organising this day.

CRV Xseed maak graag bekend dat Wikus Taljaard met ingang van Desember vanjaar, by die CRV-span aangesluit het. Wikus is CRV Xseed se verkoopskonsultant vir Gauteng, mpumalanga en noord natal. hy sal verantwoordelik wees vir die verkoop van bulsemen , bruikvoorraad vir KI, asook uitvoere vir CRV Xseed reël. Wikus het onder andere Landboubestuur by die Vrystaat Technikon studeer en het jare ondervinding in die landbou en veeverbeteringsbedryf. Vanaf 1 Desember 2012 sal die samenwerkings-ooreenkoms tussen nutrochem en CRV Xseed beëindig word.

ons verwelkom Wikus graag in ons midde en wens hom voorspoed toe. Vir meer inligting, kontak Wikus by sel 082 4131 802 of epos wikus@xseed.co.za.

WIKUS TALjAARD

having Fokko in South Africa again. Unfortunately he recently moved to Brazil, together with his wife. Reason for this move is that Fokko has been appointed as CRV’s area business manager South America. Regular contact with Chile and Uruguay and herds comprising between 10,000 and 50,000 dairy cows will be part of Fokko’s new job. CRV Xseed wishes Fokko and his wife all the best!

CoW MANAGEMENT 3CRV XsEED TiMEs noVemBeR 2012

MANAGEMENT PLAYs A MAjoR RoLE iN DisEAsE CoNTRoL

Claw diseases have been discussed in a previous issue of Highlights and can be classed as non-infectious and infectious diseases. Non-infectious include laminitis and the symptoms are a buckled toe, sole ulcer, white line disease, sole haemorrhage and double soles. infectious diseases are digital dermatitis, interdigital dermatitis (heelhorn erosion, slurry heel) and interdigital phlegmon (foul in the foot). Digital and interdigital dermatitis are also contagious diseases.

law diseases can be controlled partially by regular trimming, but daily

management of the dairy herd is even more important. hoof care consists of: sensible nutrition, comfortable housing, good calving conditions, a thorough foot bathing policy, and regular foot trimming.

Laminitis – an occupational disease Looking at non-infectious diseases (laminitis), there are many managements factors that can influence this and these can also be related. The causes are multifactorial. It is not just the one factor causing laminitis, they support each other starting with the milk yield. The higher the milk yield the more pressure on management. With a high milk yield, management factors are usually and reasonably in balance. nutrition has to be balanced and housing conditions have to be up to standard. Also calving, with all the changes the cow has to experience, will have to be problem free.

Nutrition and feedingnutrition – both pre and post calving – is also very important. The cow is a ruminant and so the rumen has to be functioning efficiently. This means that forage has to be of top quality. This starts with the crop in the field and after that the cutting stage

C

FoCUS on mAnAGemenTTo CoNTRoL CLAW DisEAsEs

of grass (dry matter and fibre content) or maize (chop length, cob filling and ripening stage) influences its passage through the rumen. Concentrate feeding both before and after calving should also be given close attention. Too much before calving (steaming up) creates a real danger of developing laminitis. Too fast and too much after calving also causes laminitis. Concentrate feeding rates between one and two weeks before calving should be no more than 2kg. After calving the concentrate should be gradually increased to a maximum during a two-to-three-week period.The cows may be suffering from a negative energy balance (neB) about two weeks before calving to between two or three months after calving. Try to minimise this neB as quickly as possible, because this can cause displaced abomasum or diarrhea. Also rumen acidosis and SARA (sub acute rumen acidosis) will be another effect of too much concentrate. The forage-to-concentrate ration should be 1:2 or at least 40% of the ration should be forage. Sudden changes in ration should not be made, because the rumen has to adapt to the different ration and conditions gradually. The way cows are fed should also be given close attention. TmR feeders are used on many units and can damage or shorten the fibre in the forage. The greater the quantity of feed the TmR wagon has to mix, the longer the mixing will take and this increases the risk of damage to the fibres in the ration. Poor quality feed can result in toxins and histamines causing squeezing and/or thrombosis in the capillaries of the corium and makes the capillaries to burst (sole haemorrhage and sole ulcer, for example). Last but not least is water availability and quality. Water troughs have to be easily accessible and contain clean, fresh water.

Calving or parturitionCalving in combination with nutrition is important as described above. other influences of calving are difficult calving (breeding and/or condition around calving). Difficult calving often goes with a difficult start to the following lactation. Retained cleansings and mastitis can have a huge impact on laminitis too. Bacterial infection and poor quality (mouldy) feed can result in endotoxins and histamines.

Housing and cow comforthousing conditions are increasingly important now that more cows are housed than in the past. Sometimes cows are still grazed, but in most cases cows stay inside the whole year round. high yielding cows should be viewed and treated like top athletes – they need extremely good husbandry. And cow comfort is the key word here. Look at space and escape routes in housing, so that less dominant cows can get away from the bullies. ensure

CLAW HEALTH sERiEs

CRV pays attention to issues around claw health in a series of four articles.

1: Five steps of hoof trimming2: Important bacterial diseases3: Laminitis4: Management issues around

claw health (part 1 of 2)

Trimming cows’ feet should be done betweensix and eight weeks prior to calving

that there are no dead ends in the housing or close to drinking troughs. And make sure that there is plenty of space at the feed barrier. When cows are eating (foraging) other cows should be able to easily pass both ways behind them. Standing times over the day should be minimised. Cubicle or stall comfort is important here, as well as the time that milking takes. Cubicle or stall comfort is influenced by the length and width of the cubicles, but also the neck rail and head rail height. These should not limit the cow’s natural movements when she is lying down and standing up. With the neck rail it is important that the cow can stand comfortably in the cubicle and the head opening (head rail height) has to be big enough for the cow to lunge forward. milking time and collecting yard are another point of attention. Lengthy milking times means that the cows are standing for too long. A cramped collecting yard will also cause a lot of distress to the cows. Sharp turns, such as those often found on parlour exits, will damage the claws (white line disease). So flooring is also a point of attention. Floors have to be smooth and even. no holes or ridges in the concrete and no slippery or excessively abrasive floors. Rubber flooring, either complete or partial, can result in fewer lesions. Fresh air, and dry and clean floors are also important. So good ventilation and manure scraping is vital. Stocking rate is also important. Under stocking is rare, but over stocking is more typical. Ideally, every cow should have sufficient feeding space and lying space.

Breeding and young stock rearingBreeding and young stock rearing should be another focus area. Breeding improvements can be made for feet and

legs. Leg posture side view (sickle, strait) and rear view (hocked) will give information on the use of legs and longevity of the cow. The same applies to claw quality, although this is a trait that’s difficult to judge with sires. It will be a trait in the future that should be able to offer more information on the susceptibility of an animal to claw diseases. Don’t breed from cows with poor feet and legs. Young stock rearing is the most costly part of claw diseases (culling), but it is also important to take care of your young stock to give them a chance to develop body capacity (growth rate).

overburdening of claws often there is an imbalance in weight bearing of the claws, mainly in the rear legs but it can also occur in the front legs. In the rear legs the imbalance occurs mainly by overburdening of the rear outer claw. This will cause the most problems around calving, so trimming cows’ feet is advised and this should be done at drying off – between six and eight weeks prior to calving. overburdening will result in extra pressure on the corium of the rear outer claw and bruise the soles (sole haemorrhage, sole ulcer).Prevention of laminitis is almost impossible, but should be kept on an acceptable level (no lameness). Because of the risk of calving and the need for milk yield the cow is very likely to run into laminitis. (occupational disease of the dairy cow).

infectious diseases other than claw diseases other herd diseases, like IBR, BVD and Johne’s disease, can reduce the resistance of the herd to claw diseases and have an influence on laminitis too. It is never been proven, but it is accepted as an important factor behind many health problems.

Cows should be able to lie down for between 12 and 14 hours per day

4 PRoDUCT UPDATe CRV XsEED TiMEs noVemBeR 2012

oVERViEW oF sALEs AREAs AND CoNsULTANTs

DEPOT HEILBRONDouw HenricoCell: 073 151 3181E-mail: douw@xseed.co.za

WESTERN FREE STATE, EASTERN FREE STATE, SOUTHERN FREE STATE & NORTHERN CAPECobus GroblerCell: 072 641 3992Fax: 051 444 3327E-mail: cobus@xseed.co.za

LIMPOPO, NORTHWEST & NORTHERN FREE STATETippie MaraisCell: 082 719 0996E-mail: tippie@xseed.co.za

GAUTENG, MPUMALANGA, NORTHERN NATAL & EXPORTWikus TaljaardCell: 082 4131 802E-mail: wikus@xseed.co.za

NATAL MIDLANDS Rolf HenriksenCell: 082 880 5916Fax: 033 267 7017E-mail: rolf@xseed.co.za

SOUTHERN NATALJeremy CantonCell: 082 556 0116Fax: 086 688 7287E-mail: jeremy@xseed.co.za

SOUTHERN NATALTim ArnotCell: 083 630 4124Fax: 033 234 4382E-mail: tim@semark.co.za

BORDER AREAGlenn MilesCell: 071 421 7812Phone (home): 043 735 2983E-mail: glenn@xseed.co.za

TSITSIKAMMAElsa ConradieCell: 082 306 6385Fax: 086 528 5371E-mail: elsa@xseed.co.za

EASTERN CAPE Rina BuchnerCell: 082 334 0447Fax: 042 235 1226E-mail: rina@xseed.co.za

SOUTHERN CAPE (George, Knysna, Mosselbay, Riversdale & Heidelberg)Robert BoschCell: 082 571 3114Fax: 044 871 0617E-mail: robert@xseed.co.za

SOUTHERN CAPE (Bredasdorp, Caledon & Swellendam)Francois ZulchCell: 083 414 3120Fax: 021 854 4159E-mail: francois@xseed.co.za

WESTERN CAPELouisa HallattCell: 082 896 9396Fax: 021 975 6040E-mail: louisa@xseed.co.za

WESTERN CAPENiell FerreiraCell: 072 460 4474E-mail: niell@xseed.co.za

GENERAL MANAGERRoy DixonCell: 082 905 0293E-mail: roy@xseed.co.za

DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGERTineke DekkerCell: 082 381 0629E-mail: tineke@xseed.co.za

ADMIN MANAGERFransa HolderCell: 072 240 8917Phone: 051 444 3350Fax: 051 444 3327

OFFICE DETAILS61 Parfitt AvenueParkwes 9301BloemfonteinPhone : 051 444 3350Fax : 051 444 3327E-mail : info@xseed.co.za

XSEED

FiVE NEW BoNsMARA BULLs AVAILABLeFiVE NEW BoNsMARA BULLs AVAILABLe

nUWe BRAnGUS KI BUL: CHiVAs (MV 03 960)

WiNTER PiCTUREFRom KWAZULU nATAL

• Beproefde teelbul wat reeds sy merk in die stoet bedryf gemaak het

• Weer een bul wat baie goed is vir verse (- 2.12kg op Geb dir) en ook melk, GDT, VoV en skrotum baie goed

• Bul wat op 1ste kalf koeie en ouer gebruik kan word met baie goeie Teelwaardes - reg deur die bank

VV030346 DEoN AG 08-057AG 07-413

AG 07 230 BoUNCER AG 10 69 BoXER

no PICTURe AVAILABLe no PICTURe AVAILABLe

Sven henriksen, son of our sales consultant Rolf henriksen in natal midlands, made this beautiful snowman dressed in a CRV t-shirt and wearing AI gloves, when it snowed heavily in natal.

• BEPROEFDE BUL MET 144 KALWERS GETOETS• KALWINGSGEMAK• EEN VAN DIE TOP BULLE VIR 200-DAE GEWIG