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What started as an “accident” became a success

Karl-Christian Wilke is a young dairy farmer from Germany. He has approx. 130 cows with around 40 ProCROSS. His plan is to increase his ProCROSS cows. 

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Karl-Christian Wilke is a young dairy farmer from Germany.  His farm is located outside the city of Frankfurt and he has 130 cows – with around 40 ProCROSS. The average production of milk at his farm is 9,500 kg ECM. 

Karl was a part of the group from Germany that participated in a ProCROSS tour in the south of Sweden. He joined the visit to a high-quality VikingRed and ProCROSS farm together with other farmers from Germany.  

Karl came to Sweden eager to confirm that he is doing the right steps to improve his herd, and he got a lot of inspiration and tips from Swedish farmers. 

A "happy" accident

He explained that about eight years ago his father by accident crossed their pure Holstein herd with Brown Swiss. The result of this “accident” was a beautiful cow that made them interested in crossbreeding more formally and professionally.

The VikingGenetics’ distributor in Germany recommended the three-way crossbreeding system which is the only scientifically proven crossbreeding concept.

“We started as an accident, but we are happy that it was a way to discover ProCROSS,” he said while watching the herd of Anders Nilsson in Skråmared, “my cows look exactly like these ones; uniform and healthy,” he happily confirmed. 

Longevity and Production, partners in success

Karl added that the most valuable characteristics of his ProCROSS cows are that they are “fit” meaning “healthy in all the important traits", he says. 
"They have easy calvings; they walk troublefree, they are healthy,” he stated. 

When comparing to his Holstein cows, Karl noticed that even if the Holstein cows can produce a bit more milk, the production will not last as the cows will get sick more often than the ProCROSS ones. 

“ProCROSS cows produce more steadily, they will last in the herd more, and longevity is a key when it comes to production,” he said.  

The combination of VikingRed (Swedish red), the French Montbéliarde and VikingHolstein has proved to be the most profitable cross. The three breeds combine and compensate very well their strong and weak points.

Facts

 

  • Karl-Christian Wilke and his family. 
  • His farm is located outside the city of Frankfurt, Germany. 
  • 130 milking cows – with around 40 ProCROSS.
  • Average production of milk at his farm is 9,500 kg ECM. 

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