“Cows have to last longer.” “Cows have to have a good productive life without too much time, money and energy for the farmer.” Good old cows make most money per animal as they produce more and know their way in the herd.” These are the comments K.I. Kampen often hear from customers all over the world. Labour and feed are very expensive so growing youngstock has to be reduced as much as possible to keep the farm profitable as youngstock only costs money. High life span production is very important to K.I. Kampen as it is very important for our customers.

What way a high lifespan production can be achieved? Of course management, feeding and housing are very important. Breeding is an important part too. The breeding values for production and longevity can be used. Compensation of the weak points of a cow is also a good strategy. A cow leaves the farm for one reason and it is good to know what that reason that would be, to make sure her daughters have more potential for life span production.

In the Netherlands the NVO (Dutch Livestock Improvent Organisation) calculates the real survival rates. Survival rates are based on the percentage of cows that are still producing on farm 12, 24, 36, 48 and 60 months after first time calving. This means the cows are able to produce and the farmers are happy with them. These two elements are very important to K.I. Kampen customers. One of the highest in the Netherlands is Huntje Holsteins Valentia (Fraiko x Burgos, aAa 423, A2A2). He is good in maturity rate, persistency and daughter fertility. 41% of is still producing in the herd, 60 months after first calving. That is 16% higher than the Dutch average. This brings him to a survivalrate of 112.

Other very interesting bulls are: Brown Vigor (110), Baltic (110), Special (108), Payday (108), Martijn (108) and Lukoki (107). These bulls were all used a lot by K.I. Kampen customers. It is great to realize they last and make money for our customers. Photo: Paydaydaughers last long. They are fertile, persistent, have healthy udders and super protein!

At our present bullchart there are some older bulls as well. Broekhuizen Bart (WhatsApp x Stellando, aAa 516, A2A2) gives great daughters that get better every lactation. Farmers who milk older daughters of him, order his semen again. And that is the best sign there is for a bull. His survivalrate is 107. 51% of his daughters are still in the herd 48 months after calving. This is 12% higher than the dutch average.
Photo: Dairyfarmers are very happy with the Bartdaughters. They last! The survivalrates show this too!

There is a couple of other bulls with daughters that last longer than average. Rednex (105), Topliner (103), Divine (103), Angelo (103) and Solution (102) show great results. Some other bulls that were used a lot all over the world have daughters that last: Big Keizer (107), Youri (105), Big Position (104) and Just in Time (104) give long lasting cows. Farmers who milk their daughters won’t be surprised with these results.

Last but not least there are two bulls that deserve extra attention. Big Winner (Win 395 x Lucky Leo, aAa 516) is a K.I. Kampen legend. He did a super job for the dairyfamers. He was selected from a long lasting cowfamily. The bull himself looked well till very old age. His surivalrate confirms the opinion of many dairyfarmers: 107. 35% of his daughters are still in the herd 60 months after first time calving. That is 10% higher than the Dutch average.

Another bull that always comes back in a positive way is Vandenberg Sneaker (Chuck x Borussia, aAa 531, A2A2). A bull that gives daughters who are lower in stature with high components and very good health traits. His survivalrate is 103. His oldest daughters are fourth calver and they will bring the survivalrates up again. At the moment 81% of his daughters are still in the herd 24 months after first time calving. That is 9% more than the Dutch average. Photo: Vandenberg Sneaker makes a lot of farmers happy. His daughters last and produce well. His index, aAa and pedigree make him a super correction bull that can be used on many modern Holstein cows!

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