By Nikita B. Damsgaard.
Søren And Sheena O’Reilly had been farming a couple of years together in the southwest of Scotland back in the early 2000’s, when they decided they wanted to change the way they farmed. They wanted to convert their cows to spring mating. They got in contact with a breeding consultant who turned out to be from New Zealand and he proposed the idea of them moving to New Zealand to dairy farm here. They took his advice into consideration, and they decided to move themselves and their four children to New Zealand. They moved to Southland as the climate is very similar to the climate they moved away from, and the region was full of opportunity.
They started off with 3 years of contract milking, then 4 years of 50/50 Sharemilking. Finally entering an equity partnership with Brent and Moana McKenzie in 2011 and establishing Morton Downs Ltd, a 182ha farm, milking 540 cows.
They have loved farming in New Zealand ever since they arrived. “It is very farmer-friendly here, there are just endless opportunities” says Søren. Their children fell right in, they have loved growing up in New Zealand and living on farm. They have all stayed in the dairy industry with three of them working on dairy farms and their fourth son driving milk tankers.
Changes in the herd
When the family bought their farm 13 years ago, it was a Friesian herd. The first thing they did was to start breeding Kiwicross, they put Jersey over their cows. After ten years with Kiwicross they started to notice that their capacity, and their udders weren’t quite as good as they would like, and they wanted to increase the capacity in the cows back to where they were before. They started looking into what options they had to fix these issues. Putting Friesians over again would only fix the problem with their size, but they didn't know if it would fix their udders or their capacity.
They came across the Three Way Cross breeding solution using VikingRed by Samen NZ. Søren is half Danish, and milked cows in Denmark for three seasons, so VikingGenetics wasn’t that foreign for him. He saw that the Scandinavian genetics could help bring back the good udders and capacity to his herd without making his cows too big. He also knew that the Scandinavian genetics have a lot of good health benefits and that it is one of VikingGenetics main priorities when breeding sires, which would be a big bonus for the O’Reillys. Since Søren had worked with Viking Cows before he knew that there truly was health benefits in using their genetics. The cows he had worked with back in Denmark were always healthy and there had barely been any problems with them when the vet came around to do checks. The local breeding consultant Kerri gave them some Three Way Cross brochures to learn more, and they read some testimonials from other farmers online.
They decided to test out the Three Way Cross breeding strategy on one third of their herd back in 2020. They were quite cautious at first because trying new things on a herd is always scary and can be difficult, but he knew that the Danish sires all come from a good herd, the Danish national herd, and they are good milking cows, so he was sure that they wouldn’t experience a setback if they weren't to his liking in the end.
They have been very happy with the decision to use VikingRed in their herd and next season they will be using 100% Samen NZ genetics. They have a couple of friends who also use Samen NZ and VikingRed. Their cows are more mature, and they have had good results, so the O’Reillys are sure they are on the right track.
One of their sons have been heavily involved on their farm and he has helped them pull data out of their farm. He is seeing the same production with the Kiwicross and his Three Way Cross 2 year olds, however, his Three Way Cross heifers have more benefits than the Kiwicross cows with the herds somatic cell count. TheViking heifers have shown an average of 31.000 and the Kiwicross has 56.000. Only 6% Viking heifers have exceeded the threshold of 125.000 and 18% KiwiCross have exceeded it. These numbers have been very important for Søren as he can truly see how big of a difference the Scandinavian genetics have made in terms of health. Visibly the udders on the Viking heifers look tidier and more even than the udders on the Kiwicross.
Apart from good udders and low somatic cell count he is starting to see good capacity and great longevity as this is what they primarily cull for. Keeping their empty rates low helps them to have a better selection intensity, “If you have high empty rates then those culling decisions have already been made for you” says Søren.
“We don't pretend to be the best at anything, but we do our best” says Søren.
Continuing to use Samen NZ
In the coming seasons, the O’Reillys will keep on using the Three Way Cross breeding solution and sexed semen. They will be using 100% Samen NZ genetics in the breeding of 2024. As a tool to try and ensure that the replacement heifers are bred from the top cows, sexed semen has been used. Working alongside their local rep Kerri, the O’Reillys focused on the handling and selection process of their Sexed semen. Results have been pleasing with a conception rate higher than their conventional semen and a reduction in bobby calves through using beef semen on the remaining cows. They have improved the general health and capacity of their herd by implementing the VikingReds while still maintaining their production levels.
Contact your local Samen NZ breeding consultant to get advice on how you can reach your goals on farm with our broad range of genetics.
