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The opportunity to breed more climate-friendly cows is one step closer for New Zealand dairy farmers after a Waikato trial finds a possible link between a bulls’ genetics and the amount of methane they produce.

Doubling genetic progress, halving the number of bulls used for breeding and a huge upscaling. The idea of genomic selection, which came to fruition 20 years ago in the brain of a brilliant scientist, has revolutionised breeding.

The index run of April 2021 features bulls that excel in health and efficiency. CRV’s Fleckvieh portfolio has been strengthened and broadened with the addition of bulls that guarantee high production and good health. Robust, highly productive cows that significantly contribute to lower costs, higher yields and fewer problems for every dairy farmer.

Apina Nadja has fulfilled her potential. One of the most influential cows in CRV’s breeding programme has high breeding values for health, fertility and longevity. And she also passes these traits on to her countless offspring. Apina Nadja has never caused any problems for owners Wim and Theo Bleser. She has now put the crown on her illustrious career by realising lifetime production of 100,000kg of milk.

Statistics addicts can feast their eyes on these tables: they present the actual production figures of the most important and most popular bulls. A lower limit of at least 75 milk records per lactation applies.

The NVI is the total merit index that reflects the breeding goals of Dutch and Flemish dairy farmers. But there are also farmers who prefer to select bulls based on one of the total American indexes TPI or NM$. Specialist Jaap Brinkman explains the differences between the American and Dutch breeding values.