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Bestyet A.I. Sires
Spring 2015 Newsletter
One of our Milking Shorthorn cows:
Meriville Milk More-P daughter
Low Cost Genetics
for Grazing Adaptability
See Inside for:
News From You
Some Observations on
Dutch Belted Genetics
Milking Shorthorns—
Essential Dual Purpose Cattle
One of our Dutch Belted cows:
Maternal sister to Bestyet Helpful
Dam is paternal sister to Hercules
Bestyet A.I. Sires
Winifred Hoffman and Family
4279 E. 12th Rd
Earlville, IL 60518-6079
Phone: (815)246-9523
e-mail: bestyetaisires@juno.com
On the web: www.bestyetaisires.com Also on Facebook.
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Spring is Coming—Really!
As I go through pictures from
last spring and summer to get this
newsletter ready—the sight of the green
grass fills my heart with longing! We,
and the cows, have weathered winter
well, but the growing season will be very
welcome again.
What We’re Hearing From You
It’s always good to hear from
you as you make your mating plans for
the coming season.
Some of you have been using our
genetics for many years. A long-time
customer in Minnesota reports that their
three-way cross with Holstein/Milking
Shorthorn/Dutch Belted is working out
well, producing cows that are vigorous,
sturdy, and good at utilizing grass—
which is at least 70% of their ration
during the grazing season. They are now
milking with robots. They note, as have
many others, that the Dutch Belted
calves are especially zippy.
Another Minnesota dairyman
who’s been using Bestyet genetics for
years in a three-way cross with Jersey,
gave this report last May: “I’ve got a
nice group of heifer calves (24) this year
out of 33 freshened to date.
No
problems calving. All are healthy.
Everyone who happens to see the calves
has remarked, ‘You have some really
nice looking calves there’.
“I like using Shorthorn on the
later freshening cows because of their
nice size and fast maturing nature. If I
need to keep the late offering of heifer
calves the Shorthorn will get back into
the calving window nicely for me.
“I again want you to pick the
bulls for me as you know them much
better than I. This arrangement has
been working well for me. I have no
complaints. Really am liking the polled
semen.”
Another dairyman who has added
Dutch Belted to his herd comments that
while they don’t produce as much milk
as Holsteins, they breed back in less than
a year and are great for calving ease.
He also notices how they lead the herd.
Meet some of our family members involved with the cattle: Daughter-in-law Trisha with Hazel and
Oliver (with some fresh cow’s milk close at hand), daughter Martha, and daughter Miriam.
They are pictured here showing at a local fair.
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Some Observations on Dutch Belted Genetics
By Greg Palen
Ovid, MI
It has been my observation as an
aAa analyzer working in many crossbred as
well as purebred grazing herds that the
Dutch Belted behavioral characteristics (not
necessarily the belt) will often dominate in
matings. (The belt may be distinctive to
recognizing the breed, but it does not
"define" it at the genotypic level.)
This
would suggest that a great deal of the
Lakenvelder [the Dutch name for the breed]
genetic pool must consist of homozygous
gene pairings (ie, all Dutch Belts in North
America are linebred descendants of the
handful of cattle first imported from the
Netherlands).
For example-- one cross of Dutch
Belted and you have black feet.
Many
(including some old timer Holstein breeders)
believe the black hoof has more resistance
to heel warts than a white hoof-- an idea I
would qualify (the more fined boned "dairy"
the physique, the thinner is the horn tissue
in the hoof, the easier it can be abraded or
otherwise damaged and lead to the softer
cartilage of the sole being forced to bear
weight).
The Dutch Belted foot and leg
structure as an integrated structure is
uniformly functional-- it has been relatively
undamaged by various fads in type selection
that afflicted the mobility of major breeds.
Likewise you do not see excessively "meaty"
udders on Lakenvelders.
Dutch
Belted
disposition
characteristics (protective maternal instinct)
are quite strong (this is an area in which our
desire for more "docile" dairy cows may
have led us to confuse dullness with
tractability) and their awareness of
(attentiveness
to)
the
surrounding
environment is a bit greater than many other
breeds. They will thus not respond well to
indifferent milking procedures (not unlike
better Jerseys in that aspect).
Fertility
among Dutch Belted is consistent no matter
the
climatic
conditions.
Production
persistency is variable; in this they are not
much different from more traditional
Shorthorns and Ayrshires, all breeds that
were developed under primarily "grass only"
seasonal calving management.
I have
concluded
that
the
stronger
the
health/fertility traits in a breed, the less
range of production will be seen in
the typical herd-- thus to get higher
production you have to support it with an
abundance of forage energy density in early
lactation and not allow "summer slumps" in
feed availability (as so often occurs in limited
input grazing) right after conception has
occurred, under spring calving regimens.
The Dutch Belted breed in its "pure"
state is much the same size and weight as a
Jersey, and this must be remembered when
judging Lakenvelder lactation performance
against other breeds. It was selected for
table milk and cheese production, so fat% is
not extreme, but protein% can be quite
good.
This purebred Dutch Belted cow is Gem of
Florida’s Glory #2520, pictured in the August 1924
Dutch Belted Cattle Bulletin and Live Stock Bulletin.
This cow who lived and thrived in Dade
County, Florida 90 years ago typifies the same
breed character and conformation that Greg Palen
has observed in his herd visits of this day and age:
sound and agile feet and legs, black hooves, silky
udder, capacity for high-forage diet, and alert
disposition.
We are happy to be able to continue to
breed cattle of this type, to provide the genetics for
cows like this to producers who value their special
characteristics.
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Milking Shorthorns—Essential Dual Purpose Cattle
Our ideal Milking Shorthorn is a
cow that milks well on a forage diet, and
still maintains her flesh and breeds back
in a timely manner, without the
metabolic problems common to the more
extreme production breeds.
Modern mainstream Milking
Shorthorn genetics, on the other hand,
have become extremely dairy, moving
far away from the traditional dual
purpose type. At the other end of the
spectrum, the beef Shorthorn has
become strictly and extremely beefy,
following industry trends for largeboned, hard-calving cattle that rely on
large quantities of grain.
Our
Milking
Shorthorn
bloodlines are known for their sound feet
and legs, well-attached mammary
systems, moderate size, deep body
capacity for forage adaptability, and a
balance of milking and fleshing
tendencies.
The value of dual purpose cattle
is being proven with the current high
beef prices. Our steers are desirable as
feeders, and surplus heifers can go for
either beef or dairy purposes.
Our family has been breeding
Milking Shorthorns for close to 80 years
on this prairie farm. We have seen
breeding fads come and go, so we just
stick with practical cattle that stand the
test of time.
Above is a Meriville King Oscar-P
daughter just fresh. At right is a Meriville
Picasso daughter at 8 years of age.
At left is a Meriville Outstanding
daughter from Brian Thornton’s herd
in Indiana , conventionally fed, who
made this 2-yr-old record: 327 days
23,403 Milk 3.0%f 714 F 3.1%p 724 P
She is 3rd generation Milking
Shorthorn on a grade Holstein base.
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What Can You Expect From Our Genetics?
~ Moderate size
~ Frequent and trouble-free calving
~ Freedom from metabolic disorders (e.g. milk fever and ketosis)
~ Good milk production even without grain
~ Great body capacity for forage utilization
~ Sound feet and legs
General Traits of our
Milking Shorthorns
~ Sturdier than the mainstream MS
~ Easy-fleshing for better
out-wintering
~ Many are polled, some
homozygous (100% dehorner)
~ Excellent beef yield on steers
~ Easy-going disposition
~ Dairy strength
~ Clean-cut yet not frail
~ Well-attached udders that last
General Traits of our
Dutch Belted
~ Excellent breeding back
~ Early maturity
~ Smaller frame than MS
~ Slender but rugged
~ Mobility and agility
~ Assertive and energetic
~ Deep heels, no need for hoof
trimming
~Silky udders with little edema
~Special milk quality with high
cheese yield
~ Incredible longevity
What Can You Expect From Us?
~ Low semen prices and volume/shipping discounts
~ Prompt service
~ Excellent semen quality
~ Mating advice from our years of breeding experience
~ Long-term commitment and availability
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