During the XXIII Regional Kujawsko-Pomorskie Breeding Animals Exhibition, females from the Nowe Jankowice Stud Farm were appreciated by the judge with two reserve champion titles (category of heifers 16-18 months and category of cows in the third lactation) and the championship in the category of heifers 19-21 months.
Read more
Top 25 cows and heifers from the Minikowo show
How to make beautiful cows
Adam Oler, president of the board of the Nowe Jankowice Stud Farm, told us what the path to success at exhibitions is.
– This is the result of many years of breeding and the involvement of many people. Such results are not achieved overnight, it is the result of long breeding work, selection of appropriate bulls for mating, and above all, proper care of the animals – said Oler.
First of all, we need to know our own herd
The President of the Management Board of the Nowe Jankowice Stud Farm indicated that the first stage of effective selection of bulls for mating is to conduct an audit of your own herd.
– We need to know what traits our cows have, which ones we want to improve, and which ones have already reached the right level and we don't need to pay attention to them – he emphasized. – Currently, we have at our disposal an assessment of animals based on conformation, a pedigree assessment, but also genotyping, which we use. Currently, all our heifers are genotyped, so that before they reach maturity in terms of phenotype, we already know what their genomes are and what their genetic assumptions allow for – he emphasized.
Read more
The ideal cow, what is it like? Criteria for evaluating cattle during exhibitions
Shortcuts don't always pay off
Oler pointed out that there are many paths to success and it cannot be said that any of them is better or worse, but first of all you should start by assessing your own herd and diagnosing what level it is at, in order to then be able to select bulls that will bring specific traits.
– We need to determine what our animals lack and what we want to improve. Skipping this first stage and moving straight to the second will also allow us to achieve some results over time, but it will be a much longer path. If we use the best bulls, then over time our herd will have the desired genes, but if we determine what the herd is like at the outset, we can immediately move on to bulls that improve the traits that our cows and heifers lack – said Oler.
Beautiful and profitable cows
Our interlocutor emphasized that it is important that cows, in addition to having a great conformation, are also characterized by high productivity.
– In our size category, i.e. barns from 300 to 500 cows, we are in second place in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and fourth place in the country, so apart from the fact that we have beautiful animals that look great at exhibitions, their high productivity goes hand in hand with this, and therefore the profitability of milk production – he pointed out.
– Our cows achieve an average yield of close to 14 thousand liters of milk during lactation. These animals are properly fed, have specific reproductive parameters and this translates into the profitability of milk production. We also sell a large number of pregnant heifers and first-calf heifers, which also bring income to the farm – noted Oler.
The most important features are already at a satisfactory level
In turn, Magdalena John, the main cattle breeder at the Nowe Jankowice Stud Farm, when asked about the traits that still need to be improved in the herd in Nowe Jankowice, indicated that although continuous work is underway to improve the traits related to performance and conformation, currently all the most important traits are already at a satisfactory level, as indicated by the results achieved at exhibitions.
John also announced plans for the future, which include enlarging the barn at the Lisnowo farm.
"PFHBiPM consulting gives us a lot"
Among the tools supporting work on improving the herd, in John’s opinion, cooperation with PFHBiPM plays a key role.
– We mainly use the advice of PFHBiPM. I think it is very good help, that cooperation with the Federation gives us a lot. We are under type and construction assessment and under usability assessment – said John.
Embryo transfer is also used in work on the genetic potential of the herd.
– We perform embryo transfer on the best heifers. We collect the embryos ourselves and buy them. I think we are making progress all the time, which is visible in the results – she added.
