German Holstein

The Holstein cattle breed is one of the most important dairy breeds in the world. It is generally the synonym for the high-performance dairy cow.

Benefits of having Holstein livestock

1.       German black/red & white Holsteins are bred for high lifetime production.

2.       The breeding goal is a profitable, dairy type cow that can be kept on the farm for many lactations because of good health, robustness and good fertility and that has adequate development potential with high forage and dry matter intake capacity.

3.        German Holstein genetic is to produce 10,000 kg milk (305 days production) with 4 % fat and 3.5 % protein is pursued in order to achieve a lifetime production of more than 40,000 kg milk.

4.       Mature cows are supposed to achieve a height of between 145 and 156 cm as well as a weight of 650 and 750 kg.

5.        Body and motion traits including correct and sound feet and legs have to contribute to the high production level and good longevity.

6.        Healthy udder is required that is easy to milk and allows high daily production over many lactations with regard to quality and efficiency and that also meets the requirements of modern milking systems.

7.       German Holstein breeding guarantees, with its total merit index RZG – introduced in 1997 – balanced breeding for economic as well as health-relevant traits in milk production, conformation, udder health, functional longevity and breeding ability.

8.        The total merit index combines a variety of individual pieces of information and offers the breeder selection criteria for bulls which does not only consider milk production, but also functional traits according to their economic importance.

9.       More suitable to high input system