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As a strategic and technical farm consultant, almost every day Niels Achten speaks with dairy farmers in the Netherlands and Flanders about ways of optimising their farm management. Niels works at consultancy firm Liba and, along with his parents, operates a dairy with 280 cows. He can therefore directly link the numbers on paper to his own practical experience.

“We have always been a detail-oriented, high-production dairy. But we have always struggled with components. I made the CRV jump because we wanted to focus on components. We saw the value of components and we knew it was going to continue to increase," says Brian Robbins, owner of the 1,200-cow herd North Harbor Dairy Farm in Sackets Harbor, New York. With the help of CRV Sales Representative Tim Fargo, Brian adapted a new breeding strategy. "Nowadays I don't get too involved in it. I told Tim what I was looking for, eight or nine years ago. He has done very well. So, I don't really ask a lot of questions," Brian Robbins says.

Grootendorst Farms, located in Maryhill, Ontario, Canada, is owned and operated by brothers Henk and Ary Grootendorst. They farm 1000 acres, and milk 600 cows 3 times a day in a double 16 herringbone parlor. The immaculately kept farm produces 11,800 kg milk, with 4.33% fat, and 3.38% protein.

The efficiency with which cows convert feed into milk is largely responsible for the profitability of dairy farming around the world. With FeedExcel, CRV has developed a breeding strategy that helps farmers breed a herd that combines high milk production and feed efficiency with an above-average longevity and good health. Part of this strategy is the use of selected FeedExcel bulls. As from this index run, these bulls can be identified throughout the world by a FeedExcel logo on the CRV bull catalogs and websites. After the index run of August 2023, CRV’s bull range has been further strengthened with several young bulls who prove that high feed efficiency is closely linked to high longevity, good health traits, and excellent functional type.

Following the index run in August 2023, CRV’s Fleckvieh portfolio has been further strengthened and broadened. Several, very good bulls, had to be withdrawn from the range because their breeding values are exceeded by those of the new generation of bulls. At the same time, the performance of the daughters of popular bulls confirms the breeding values of their sires. For farmers who want to breed for polledness, CRV has added a number of very interesting, young, heterozygous and homozygous polled bulls to the portfolio.

At the age of almost 12 years, we have bid farewell to our beloved Wobbler. He remains very much in demand. However, he leaves behind a large quantity of semen, allowing his genetics to continue being passed on. Due to his character and excellent condition, until the end, Wobbler was very popular in the Rottmoos stable. The entire team, therefore, found it very difficult to say goodbye to him.