Jersey x holstein

[TexasBred]

In Australia they made a study comparing the Jersey x Holstein cross against the Australian Friesian Sahiwal in very harsh environment, the cross outperformed pure Holsteins and Australian Friesian Sahiwal on Milk Yield, pregnancy rate and age of calving.

Over what period of time was the test conducted?

https://clunyexports.com/wp-content/upl ... CATTLE.pdf

"Jersey x Holstein Crossbreds
The success story of the Jersey x Holstein crossbred worldwide in tropical regions is acknowledged and well documented. It includes countries such as Mexico, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, it is the Jersey component that provides the heat resistance and the toughness"

Jersey/holstein cross is a great little cow but my experience was the offspring of that first cross had a world of duds.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Jersey/holstein cross is a great little cow but my experience was the offspring of that first cross had a world of duds.

Did you try any 3 breed rotations?

 

[TexasBred]

Jersey/holstein cross is a great little cow but my experience was the offspring of that first cross had a world of duds.

Did you try any 3 breed rotations?

Sure didn't. Always figured that 3rd breed was a lesser milk cow than either the jersey or the holstein.

 

[farmerjan]

Wanted to add my 2 cents since I have been a milk tester for over 25 years and have had dozens of "family milk cows". The jersey/holstein cross has pros and cons; yes they tend to be smaller, tend to have more butterfat, most tend to eat a little less, tend to be more fertile and breed back quicker, than the straight holsteins. Some of the next generation do tend to be less proficient but not all. Have one farmer that has used the 3rd cross to a swedish red and gotten exceptional production with a much "beefier" animal that stays in almost fat condition and breeds back well. They are a good animal to keep a bull calf out of for beef if bred beef. One farmer I tested for also loves them but 3 have hated the original jer/hol cross. Many have crummy dispositions, bad attitudes and tend to be more kicky. I have acquired over a dozen over the years when a holstein breeder was desperate to get a cow bred back and used a jersey as last result and didn't want a crossbred heifer calf to raise.
One of the biggest problems I have seen over the years, including in the ones I have raised, besides the attitude problems, they tend to lose their udder support in the 3rd or 4th lactation. The rear udder drops and the center ligament support goes to hell and the teats will stick out to the sides when fresh. Since they are often shorter than the holstein, they can't afford for their udder to drop. I always breed my crosses back to jersey to try to breed out the hol. or breed them beef if they are not the best producers and if they have a heifer, she will go into the "beef" herd and they always milk alot, but the next generation beef calf will have some of the "finer" traits and will not sell as well as a straight beef calf. Great to eat yourself.
I regularly test 15-20 herds a month, same herds every month and have seen alot of the crosses come and go. Graziers like the swedish red or other similiar cross because they don't lose condition. Jerseys actually do quite well grazing. The bull calves aren't worth much to sell but they are the BEST beef and will weigh 800-1000 at 2 1/2 yrs and don't have alot of fat on them. Meat is tender, and has a sweeter taste and that is all the beef I have eaten for 20 or more years. My favourite breed is guernsey, but they have tried to breed them into super producers and have lost all the vigor. The old style guernsey was a little coarse and raw-boned, not the best producer but the milk is high in beta-carotene with the yellow color and makes the best butter. I have a guernsey, a 1/2 guernsey/hol that is black&white, and a 1/2guernsey 1/2 jersey that is brindle that is being bred back guernsey, 2 jersey cows, 2 jersey heifers, and a blk&white 1/2 jer 1/2 hol, and her blk&white 3/4 jer 1/4 hol daughter. They are nurse cows and raise an avg 3 calves each per year plus I milk the one jersey once a day for the house with her calf getting the rest. She is a young cow off a dairy that got mastitis as a heifer, lost one quarter so isn't the greatest milker but does all I need for her to do. They get a little grain when I am getting the calves established, and no silage, just mostly hay and also some alfalfa when they are getting established and all the pasture they want. I also have milked an angus jersey cross in the past and some holstein angus and holstein hereford crosses, but mostly get a second calf on them and let them raise 2 per lactation. The holstein crosses get thin on just pasture with 2 calves on them, but the jerseys fare better.
Don't know if this is too much information, I guess I got carried away but I like my dairy cows and wished someone had given me more advice when I was younger. Also, if you are into the caesin thing, guernseys and jerseys are the only 2 dairy breeds that are well known for the A2 beta caesin and it is touted to be more digestible and fewer incidences of lactose intolerance with it; there is an interesting article on DR. MERCOLA's website about the 'devil in the milk' and the guernsey breeders website on the properties of guernsey milk.

 

[regolith]

I'm pretty sure there's a few Friesian bulls here in NZ that are A2/A2 - it's not something I specifically breed for, too many other traits that are more important. So while it is often linked to the Jersey it can be found in the black and whites too for people who wanted to breed that way.
My crosses don't generally have udder collapsing issues, but then, they're grassfed and not pushed for high production either. We lose the occasional one that the ligaments go at around five years old or less. Interestingly, I had a daughter and now several grand-daughters of a cow I bought whose udder collapsed like that and they have all been fine, the daughter was seven last year when I culled her for having a sniffle when there wasn't enough grass to feed everyone, still had an udder like a 3 yr old, and her sire wasn't a particularly good-uddered bull either.

 

[farmerjan]

There's always some that will defy the odds and any good uddered ones are the ones to keep. If you were going strictly by "genetics" you probably would not have even bred those animals, all the more reason I am not into all this genomics...I want to see some "real" records. I believe that the Fresians you have in NZ are a little different bred than the american holsteins and probably better for grazing and components than here. The new sire summaries are touting the A2/A2 in the jerseys and guernseys but I didn't see it on any of the holsteins, brown swiss or ayshires although it could be there. Since I don't do much relief AI breeding I don't keep up on it as much. How are your milk prices there? I have heard that you guys were really suffering; we went from $22.+ cwt down to $14.50 cwt. and it is breaking the farmers backs. Alot of the farmers that I test for are in their 50's and 60's and several have no one to take over and I look for more to sell out in the next couple of years. Can't say that I blame them. So many of the younger generation don't want the 7 day a week commitment. There's not the "love" of dairy cattle that there seemed to be 40-50 years ago.
I have a couple of farmers that like the "lineback" cattle, they milk pretty good and are beefier and are usually pretty quiet. To each his own. I won't tell anyone mine are better or yours aren't good ones, only try to share what I've seen over the years. I get picked on all the time by several farmers about why I would want a "useless" guernsey.... even though I mostly get my paycheck from "holsteins" they are not my favourite dairy cow.

 

[ohiosteve]

That cross makes a good dairy cow but their offspring are generally duds

I agree. I had a few in a herd I bought and they were really good dairy cows I liked them a lot. The ones I had had great udders. I bred them back Holstein and the calves were nothing special. They would not be a good beef cow in my opinion, but probably a great nurse cow.

 

[regolith]

There's always some that will defy the odds and any good uddered ones are the ones to keep. If you were going strictly by "genetics" you probably would not have even bred those animals, all the more reason I am not into all this genomics...I want to see some "real" records. I believe that the Fresians you have in NZ are a little different bred than the american holsteins and probably better for grazing and components than here. The new sire summaries are touting the A2/A2 in the jerseys and guernseys but I didn't see it on any of the holsteins, brown swiss or ayshires although it could be there. Since I don't do much relief AI breeding I don't keep up on it as much. How are your milk prices there? I have heard that you guys were really suffering; we went from $22.+ cwt down to $14.50 cwt. and it is breaking the farmers backs. Alot of the farmers that I test for are in their 50's and 60's and several have no one to take over and I look for more to sell out in the next couple of years. Can't say that I blame them. So many of the younger generation don't want the 7 day a week commitment. There's not the "love" of dairy cattle that there seemed to be 40-50 years ago.
I have a couple of farmers that like the "lineback" cattle, they milk pretty good and are beefier and are usually pretty quiet. To each his own. I won't tell anyone mine are better or yours aren't good ones, only try to share what I've seen over the years. I get picked on all the time by several farmers about why I would want a "useless" guernsey.... even though I mostly get my paycheck from "holsteins" they are not my favourite dairy cow.

Milk price has made things very tough here. Fonterra recently announced a 50c lift which will help a lot if it comes through (we still haven't had full payment for last season's milk, it takes about seventeen months for them to fully pay up and anything can happen to the milk price in meantime), but is still below cost of production for a lot of farmers. Debt free and all-grass, I've been pretty much breaking even and no more for the last two years. As most farmers carry some debt, it'll be pulling them down, and if they're locked into irrigation or feed costs it'll be even worse.

Yes, I love the coloured cows and now that I've got a good internet speed have seen a lot of photos of linebacks, flecks, gyr-influenced, Monty's as well as the Red breeds, Swiss, Jersey and Holstein.
Just flicking through the NZ Friesians in LIC catalogue, Beamer is A1A2, Grandeur A2A2, Fire-up A2A2, Hothouse A2A2... so yes, it's definitely available in black and whites if someone wanted to breed them that way. The majority of the daughter proven Jerseys are A2A2.

 

[farmerjan]

Neat to know about the fresians and the caesin A2 thing. There have been some studies on it, of course they are not "conclusive" but it seems that there is alot of lactose intolerance and I think there might be something to the switch to confinement and silage feeding etc and away from pasture/grass based dairies. And the possible influence with diabetes and other things. The genetic pool here is getting so inbred, the guernseys are awful, but I just put 10 straws of an outcross in my tank to use even though he isn't one of the "better" bulls that select sires has. I am also waiting on a catalog from an independent that carries alot of different "odd" breeds and hope to find some other outcross guernseys, and maybe some other colored breeds. I like the dutch belted cows and they are supposed to be good graziers. There are so few of the guernseys that they are actually on the endangered watch list of the American Livestock Breeds Conservatory. Maybe one day the semen will be in demand as Elevation is here now. And people find out that I have jerseys and guernseys and they are looking for family milk cows. That is what I hope to be able to do, provide some in the future when I retire from my milk testing job in a couple of years.
There are several purebred Hol breeders actually looking for some of the older bulls as they are thoroughly fed up with everything based on these new genomics, with studs flushing heifers to these young bulls and all, and no proof that the bulls daughters have done/will do anything. It's all "on paper". Then when these daughters come into the milking herd ,they are nothing special and the bulls disappear from the studs. Our newest catalog of the "component breeds",; as anything not holstein is now classified, doesn't even give any lactation records on the dams or daughters, it has all these % comparisons and I am honestly going to have to learn how to read this stuff because I don't understand it at all.
I enjoy hearing from you and some of the differences from here to NZ.

 

[farmerjan]

There's always some that will defy the odds and any good uddered ones are the ones to keep. If you were going strictly by "genetics" you probably would not have even bred those animals, all the more reason I am not into all this genomics...I want to see some "real" records. I believe that the Fresians you have in NZ are a little different bred than the american holsteins and probably better for grazing and components than here. The new sire summaries are touting the A2/A2 in the jerseys and guernseys but I didn't see it on any of the holsteins, brown swiss or ayshires although it could be there. Since I don't do much relief AI breeding I don't keep up on it as much. How are your milk prices there? I have heard that you guys were really suffering; we went from $22.+ cwt down to $14.50 cwt. and it is breaking the farmers backs. Alot of the farmers that I test for are in their 50's and 60's and several have no one to take over and I look for more to sell out in the next couple of years. Can't say that I blame them. So many of the younger generation don't want the 7 day a week commitment. There's not the "love" of dairy cattle that there seemed to be 40-50 years ago.
I have a couple of farmers that like the "lineback" cattle, they milk pretty good and are beefier and are usually pretty quiet. To each his own. I won't tell anyone mine are better or yours aren't good ones, only try to share what I've seen over the years. I get picked on all the time by several farmers about why I would want a "useless" guernsey.... even though I mostly get my paycheck from "holsteins" they are not my favourite dairy cow.

Milk price has made things very tough here. Fonterra recently announced a 50c lift which will help a lot if it comes through (we still haven't had full payment for last season's milk, it takes about seventeen months for them to fully pay up and anything can happen to the milk price in meantime), but is still below cost of production for a lot of farmers. Debt free and all-grass, I've been pretty much breaking even and no more for the last two years. As most farmers carry some debt, it'll be pulling them down, and if they're locked into irrigation or feed costs it'll be even worse.

Yes, I love the coloured cows and now that I've got a good internet speed have seen a lot of photos of linebacks, flecks, gyr-influenced, Monty's as well as the Red breeds, Swiss, Jersey and Holstein.
Just flicking through the NZ Friesians in LIC catalogue, Beamer is A1A2, Grandeur A2A2, Fire-up A2A2, Hothouse A2A2... so yes, it's definitely available in black and whites if someone wanted to breed them that way. The majority of the daughter proven Jerseys are A2A2.

Read some stuff about Fonterra on a recently discovered site called Bullvine which has all sort of dairy info. I think you guys are really getting screwed over down there if I am even half understanding what I was reading. Used to be farmers and ranchers were considered among the more affluent of the people because of the assets they had, today we are the dregs of the world. Tired of supporting everyone else on my back and all the ones getting a handout on my long hard hours. :x :x

 

[regolith]

The 'farmers are rich' memo was always a bad myth - as I see it anyway, I've been involved in dairy farming for over 20 yrs now & doubt it was ever true before that.
I know of the Bullvine, don't always agree with the articles but they do keep up with what is happening in the dairy world.

One thing though. As a rule, farmers can feed their children, even if they don't have spare cash. (non-farming) society I grew up in that wasn't always the case.

 

[farmerjan]

Yeah, I figure that when the world as we have known it crashes, and here in the US that may be sooner rather than later...the farmers will have the food then we will all be sitting at our gates with a gun to keep the starving takers, that have done nothing for themselves except collect from the gov't, from stealing what we worked our a**** off for. But we need to "share the wealth".... No I didn't mean farmers were rich, more in the line that they were respected members of the communities because they worked hard for what they had and had acquired assets that made them seem as more affluent. Like in the "old Days" in america, farmers were the backbone of the communities...

 

[Wendyfhdqs]

I have been using Jersey raw for years to make cheeses. But the milk I have been using is getting harder to get lately. We have another raw milk source in the area that's a Holstein/Jersey cross. Does anyone out there
know about the fat and protein content of this kind of cross would generally be.

Andreark

 

[Son of Butch]

Jersey is the best for cheese production averaging 4.7 bf and 3.7 protein
Holstein x Jersey average 4.1 bf and 3.4 protein
Holstein 3.6 bf and 3.15 protein

 

[farmerjan]

Every cow is different. I have a dairy farmer that milks 50-60 reg holsteins and reg brown swiss. About 60/40 holstein to swiss. His butterfat runs 4.0 to 4.3 at the milk plant and has many holsteins over 4% fat all the time. Not all the swiss are real high fat, but the majority are.

Look for the fat to run 4% if you are lucky and the protein to run in the 3.1 range. Is this person on DHIA testing? If so then the resulting test will tell what the fat/protein and scc is.

Some milk companies also list the SNF and that is important to the farms that are shipping milk mainly for making cheese. Michigan and states up there are more cheese manufacturing states.

OOPs, I just noticed you are in Bulgaria....so don't have any idea if there are companies that do milk testing like the Dairy Herd Improvement Association; although there must be some type of standardized testing so that proofs from registered bulls will show up and the semen can be shipped to a bull stud for distribution.

I have 2, 50/50 holstein jersey crosses; and a 3/4 jersey 1/4 holstein; as well as 2, 50/50 holstein/guernsey crosses. The 1/2 jersey crosses are running in the 3.8 to 4.0 % fat most of the time, and protein is in the 3.0 to 3.2. The 3/4 is running about 4.0 to 4.2% fat but her dam was a high fat holstein. The 2 guernsey/hol are running in the 3.9 % fat but they have more "yellow" color due to increased beta-carotene. My straight jersey runs about 4.2-4.5% and the old guernsey cow is about 4.0-4.2%. I don't push for production as much as a commercial dairy and they get alot of hay/pasture and not alot of grain which will up the fat more. Diet will play a big roll in the butterfat. I mostly am using them for nurse cows right now and they will raise 2-4 calves each lactation.

This is only a guess as some of it is dependent on whether the dam of the cow had a decent fat average. I know of a few holsteins that barely run 3.0 on fat so even a 1/2 jersey daughter from them might not make a very high fat.

Welcome to the Forum. Tell us about your operation, and what farming is like there. We have a regular poster from Lithuania that has some beautiful beef animals and she has several that have some dairy in their background, although I don't know if they milk any for themselves.

 

[Son of Butch]

I have been using Jersey raw for years to make cheeses. But the milk I have been using is getting harder to get lately.
We have another raw milk source in the area that's a Holstein/Jersey cross.
Does anyone out there know about the fat and protein content of this kind of cross would generally be.

Andreark

My guess is holstein/jersey milk will produce 10-12% less cheese per pound than straight jersey milk.
But that's just a guess.

 

[cbcr]

I have been using Jersey raw for years to make cheeses. But the milk I have been using is getting harder to get lately.
We have another raw milk source in the area that's a Holstein/Jersey cross.
Does anyone out there know about the fat and protein content of this kind of cross would generally be.

Andreark

My guess is holstein/jersey milk will produce 10-12% less cheese per pound than straight jersey milk.
But that's just a guess.

Many factors go into making cheese. Cows milk is around 87% water. if looking at the butterfat part, one cow producing 4.5%F vs a cow producing 4.5%F. based on 20 lbs of milk at 3.5%F= .9 lbs and 20 lbs of milk at 3.5%F = .7 lbs or a reduction of about 8%. so "Son of Butch" is about right in his quote.

While milk fat in the cows milk are important qualities in making cheese they are affected by the breed and the cows diet. The protein part of the milk contains the caseins, (kappa casein, beta casein and beta lactoglobulin) which are the most important as they bind together and help in the solidification of the milk during the cheesemaking process.

A better explanation of the Casein's is from the Basic genomic test from GeneSeek

Cheese Production
Kappa casein There are several forms of kappa casein – A, B and E – that are associated with milk protein and quality. These variants are related to renneting process for cheese production. Studies have also shown that cheddar cheese
yield can be up to 8% higher and mozzarella up to 12% higher with BB milk versus AA milk3. The E variant has an
adverse effect on cheese production.

BB: preferred result for cheese production
AB and BE: intermediate for cheese production.
AA and AE: least favorable result for cheese production.

Beta casein Like kappa casein, there are several different forms of beta casein (A and B). Higher milk yield is associated with the A variant while higher protein and casein yields are associated with the B variant. Beta casein B is similar in effect to Kappa casein B.

Beta lactoglobulin has a significant effect on casein number and cheese yield. The B variant has higher casein and cheese yields.
Beta lactoglobulin and Beta Casein
BB: most favorable result for casein and cheese yield.
AB: intermediate result for casein and cheese yield.
AA: least favorable result for casein and cheese yield.

IF looking at breeds based on CM$ (Cheese Merit Dollars) the breeds that rank the highest are Holstein, "Red" breeds (Swedish Red and White, Norwegian Red, Red Dane, North American Red, and Finnish Ayrshire) and the Jersey breed.

Another breed that produces excellent milk for cheese making is the Normande which is from France and they have more of the desirable casein components in their milk which can yield up to 20% higher cheese yeild.