“Following the program SireMatch, I had inseminated her with Delta Firestone. The pedigree and the expected breeding value of the gestation had attracted attention,” Frijters recalls. Bertha 193 calved a bull whose genomic breeding values were so interesting that CRV’s Eric Lievens came to visit. He liked the calf as well as its dam and granddam, Frijters remembers. The bull calf moved to CRV’s rearing facility and was given the name Solaris. By now, well before her fifth birthday, Bertha 193 has already calved for the fourth time. She has been classified with 86 points for overall conformation and is predicted to produce nearly 9,800 kg of milk in 305 days with 4.75% fat and 4.08% protein. Her seven-year-old dam, Bertha 179 (by Rosebud), is also still in full production, with a lifetime yield of more than 57,000 kg of milk at 4.55% fat and 3.60% protein.
Lowlands Solaris puts complete, hardworking dairy cows in the spotlight
“The Bertha family? They’ve been on our farm since 1980 and have simply performed well,” says André Frijters from the Netherlands. The dairy farmer never imagined he would one day breed an AI bull from this family, until he got a message from CRV asking if he would take a hair sample when the third calf of Listrotto daughter Bertha 193 was born.
When pedigree meets performance
Trouble-free and complete
Frijters’ breeding policy focuses on problem-free cows that easily achieve high production. Lowlands Solaris fits that picture perfectly. He combines production traits of nearly +800 kg milk with +0.24% fat and +0.16% protein, along with a lifespan index of 776 days. To achieve this high lifetime production, daughters of this FeedExcel bull will require relatively little feed (feed efficiency 107). They also produce persistently (106) and mature late (108). Solaris is also strong in transmitting functional conformation, scoring 107 for udder and 107 for legs in the top line (including 108 for locomotion and 104 for rear leg side view). On health and management traits, the new InSire bull scores well, including 106 for ketosis resistance, 106 for calving ease, and 106 for somatic cell count. Solaris is an A2A2 bull, suitable for use on heifers, and transmits a positive milking speed (105). With a robot index of 111, he is also very well suited for robotic milking farms.
