Why crossbreed your cows?
When a breeder decides to use a crossbreeding bull on his cows, the main sought zootechnical criteria are:
Good fertility
Short gestation
Easy calving
A light calf at birth
Good market value of the calf
Since 2008, BBG has been selecting bulls that meet these criteria.
Easy calving is a key point when choosing to do terminal crossbreeding with Belgian Blue. At BBG we select bulls with the best indexes thanks to genomics.
Below, you’ll find the influence of the bull’s index and his field-collected data of easy calving. For comparison, Holstein births have been added.
Calving ease
Easy calving
Calving with help
Ceasarian
Hol x Hol
BBB >110 x Hol
BBB 100-110 x Hol
BBB 90-100 x Hol
BBB <90 x Hol
From selection to production
Bulls are chosen before their first year on the basis of their pedigree index and, since 2021, their genomic index. If they are placed in a selection center by the breeder, their individual performance (daily gain, feed efficiency) is also an indication of choice.
Bought bulls are put to production at AWE (Walloon breeding association). The sperm quality is evaluated before and after semen freezing and, if it meets requirements, the bull can be put to testing.
Interesting fact: 90% of the sought bulls used for crossbreeding are white to obtain blue calves with Holstein. With this color, they are easily identified by the livestock dealer. However, it is not a calf’s quality insurance, but only an indication for the client in many European countries.
Testing
For every bull, 1500 to 2000 cows are then inseminated in dairy farms from Belgium and the Netherlands. No less than 9 months later, several data are collected, such as: date of artificial insemination, date of birth, sex, way of calving, weight and conformation at birth.
With these data, several indexes are elaborated:
Easy calving
Weight at birth
Gestation length
Conformation at birth
Fineness of bones