There is plenty of semen on proven bulls. Big Bear Genetics out of Canada (distributes in US and Canada), Global Genetic Resources in Wisconsin, CRV in the US. The only thing that effect being able to have semen on some of the top bulls is that when they go thru a summer in Europe many end up with Schmallenbergers, and once they do, then they aren't able to export semen to the US. There are several high genomic young sire available.
Dairies would be wise to use the Fleckvieh and Montbeliarde but to many if it isn't a Holstein they don't consider any other animal to be a dairy cow. We have even heard of some that have Fleckvieh in their herd and they think they want to sell them.
Why? When ask if they produce well enough, they answer yes some of the Fleckvieh cross animals are some of their top producers. Ask if they have health problems, they answer no they have fewer health problems and stay healthier. Ask if they are having problems breeding back, they answer no, they breed back much better than the Holstein. When ask why they want to sell them, their reply is that they like the look of the Black and White Holstein better, no other reason.
Another problem is that bankers are so brain washed that they only want to loan money to diaries to buy Holsteins.
We have one member that has bred to purebreds and decided to phase out the Holsteins and become a full Fleckvieh herd. Their banker was not too keen on the idea at first but has changed his thinking, but they have became a full Fleckvieh herd. They are able to survive much better than most and have been able to build some new barns and other improvements. They have made the comment that if it were not for switching to Fleckvieh, they would have been out of the dairy business.
Their turnover rate has been as high as 43% and were barely able to have enough replacement heifers to replace cull cows. Today with the Fleckvieh herd it is below 15%. Cows last more lactations in the herd, and they have surplus heifers and are able to sell heifers from the farm to others.
The Fleckvieh is very popular with grazing and organic dairies because the Fleckvieh can hold their body condition quite well.
Another Fleckvieh breeder when grain went sky high ask his nutritionist to formulate a feed ration for 60 lbs of production. His nutritionist was curious too how well the Fleckvieh would perform. The herd is still out producing the 60 lbs they are being fed for. The nutritionist told him that if it were a herd of Holsteins he would have refused to change the ration as the Holsteins would not have been able to hold up.
We have a member in Iowa with a purebred Montbeliarde herd that is one of the top in the World. He has been able to have some of his purebred animals tested genomically in France and many of them rank in the top 10% for the breed.
The ProCross is a 3-way rotational cross of Holstein, Montbeliarde and the Viking Red (Swedish Red, Finnish Ayrshire and Red Dane). Their is a 10 year study that was conducted by the University of Minnesota and these crosses are more too are more profitable than the Holstein. They are more feed efficient by about 4% and this also includes young stock.
We have developed the North American Red which is a combination of US and Canadian Ayrshire, The Viking Red (Swedish Red, Finnish Ayrshire and Red Dane), the Norwegian Red and not over 12.5% Holstein. With the dairy evaluations the North American Red we have 73 of the top 100 cows on the Elite List. On the heifer list we have the number 1 heifer and she is higher that the second place animal that is from Sweden. the number 1 heifer completes 3 generations on the elite list, another animal in the top 10 completes 4 generations on the Elite list.
Have a member in the UK that has 2 bulls (polled) in the top 25 Ayrshire/Red Breeds list and he has exported semen to the US, Australia and other countries.