Travlr
Well-known member
I couldn't have said it better myself...Not sure of what the purpose would be. Holstein standards means they have to have a white switch on tail and a certain amount of other white... the blacks are beef crosses and grade accordingly... solid black holstein crosses... usually with brown swiss giving them a dark choc or grayish black, take longer to mature since the swiss are slower growing... I see no benefit to a solid black holstein as the type would not feed out as well as a beef cross... and they pass the "black hided" tests many times... why screw up a breed with trying to make it something it is not. The market for the holstein beef is different than the beef animals, and there is a good market for them. I personally don't like the "turning everything black" mentality... if you cross it, the calf is a crossbred... regardless if it is all black or not... and then you get into having these "blacks" into the milking herds and you go backwards with milk production. It is hard enough to get some to recognize the good in the red and white holsteins which is a naturally occurring color... who the he// needs another "black breed" ???
Just speculating on people and the current trend to chase a "premium"...