88 | nzdairy Genetic diversity a key to future breeding Virginia Wright DAIRY PEOPLE » Steve & Nina Ireland Steve and Nina Ireland run 480, mostly Jersey and Kiwi-X, cows on their 150 effective hectare farm near Temuka, with a 99-hectare dairy support run-off 5 kilometres down the coast where they winter their young stock, beef animals and bulls. The name of the farm is the name of their stud, Lynbrook Jerseys, which Nina and Steve started in 1989. Nina and Steve started their genetics from scratch with their own herd. Since the beginning they’ve stuck to nominating the very best bulls they could nd for the traits they wanted: strength for fertility, udders and capacity. “We’ve bred that over several generations into our herd. We’ve invested a lot in semen, embryology and elite females as well, and we’ve provided a lot of our genetics to the AB companies like Samen, LIC and CRV,” says Steve. Over recent years the Irelands have consistently worked with Samen’s Danish Jersey genetics. They like that the Danes have a very high degree of recording and have been breeding for fertility, strength and health traits for 40 odd years. “A lot of overseas genetics don’t have the strength, and milk components, and fertility, that we need here in New Zealand on grass. But we’ve identi ed that Samen’s Viking Jerseys suit our system and our herd quite well,” explains Steve. He’s careful to point out that he’s talking about his system three farm in particular, and that they’re also spring calving only, which means they need animals that can readily get pregnant on their mainly grass system. The Vikings have the added advantage of being bred to avoid mastitis and sore feet. Used over approximately 10% of the herd the Vikings provide the outcross genetics the Lynbrook Jersey Stud needs to complement the New Zealand genetics which are themselves of a very high standard. Steve and Nina Ireland have stuck to nominating the very best bulls they could nd for the traits they wanted: strength for fertility, udders and capacity. “A lot of overseas genetics don’t have the strength, milk components, or fertility but Samen’s Viking Jerseys suit our system.” Used over approximately 10% of the herd, the Vikings provide the outcross genetics for Lynbrook Jersey Stud. Polled bull calf Lynbrook tribute P. “The biggest issue we have in New Zealand is that we don’t have particularly good genetic diversity because everyone wants to use only the very best sires, and they tend to all be related, so it’s a never-ending circle of using the best families,” explains Steve. “We now have ve-year-old cows sired by Danish bulls that we rate highly. We ush or do embryo work on our top 10 to 12 cows each year and so we’re accelerating our genetic gains. We nominate the top 70% of the herd to go to breeding replacements with the remaining going to beef bulls.” They’re now also using Samen Belgian Blue, and Samen Flecvieh genetics, in the beef side of their operation. They’re working to establish some genetic variation in this part of their herd, and to create an income stream out of what might have otherwise been bobby calves. In another response to consumer signals they’re including polled genetics in their breeding program, with good results, according to Steve. “They’re only a couple of weeks old but we’ve got two exciting, high genetics, polled, bull calves. The one we’ve named Lynbrook Superpoll- P will probably be marketed by Samen, and the other, Tribute, will be hopefully going into one of the other breeding companies.” With a bit of luck they hope to achieve again the mark of success that came when their bull, Lynbrook Terri c, was inducted into the LIC Hall of Fame in 2019, marking him as a special bull across all breeds, having made a signi cant contribution to genetics in New Zealand. Ph: 03 684 8410 www.plunket-electrical.co.nz 24/7 service in South Canterbury & North Otago EcoSmart Plunket Electrical for all domestic, farm, dairy shed & irrigation work Member Electrical Contractors Association of NZ MASTER ELECTRICIANS
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