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Thousands Attend 3rd Alta Dairy Day in the Netherlands
Four impressive daughter groups with wildly popular Dutch Type leader “Lucky Mike” anchoring the display, a fantastic location on a progressive dairy farm and thought provoking presentations were all reasons for an extraordinary successful Alta Dairy Day. The format, with a theme “Farmers with Guts”, helped draw huge crowds on the 3rd such event hosted by Alta.
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Roughly 5,000 people attended the one day spectacle on December 3rd in Zeewolde, 30 minutes northeast of Amsterdam. In addition to the many, many Dutch dairy producers in attendance, the event also attracted foreign guests from the UK and Ireland, Germany, the US, Canada, the Czech Rep., Hungary, Italy, Ukraine, Russia and Brazil. |
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The crowds, although large throughout the day, peaked around noon when the daughter groups were paraded in an outdoor ring on the farm. With commentary provided by Alta sire analyst Adrion Van Beek, visitors craned for a better view with some climbing up on pit silos and other elevated structures to get a better view. Lucky Mike made a very strong impression as did promising Aaron son Acoord, and Breakout with a sister, his dam and Grandam as part of the exhibit, reinforced the popularity of this burgeoning family. Red enthusiasts were also treated to a strong display of Lotto-Red daughters to add some color. |
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Alta has 10% Market Share
Nearing the end of 2004 Alta now has a 10% market share in the Dutch AI sector, according to Koepon Manager Jan Bobbink at the Alta Dairy Day: “last year we were at a 5% market share level, so in a year we have doubled our sales”. And he also made this bold prediction: “next year we expect to reach 15%!”
The total Dutch AI market is 2.5M doses, so Alta’s portion of that total has now reached 250,000 doses in 2004 from approximately 4,500 customers. In the Flemish region of Belgium, Alta sells another 25,000 doses as well. Analyzing Alta’s sales further, 55 percent is delivered via the seven Tellus technician teams.
Product Development Director Bartele Verbeek: ‘Cross-breeding takes more time’
Alta’s European sampling initiative is now 9 years old and has clearly borne its fruit. Dynasty, Lucky Mike, Bingo and Breakout are the well-known names from Alta. Product Development Director Bartele Verbeek provided the average ratings for these 4 sires: + 944 kilo milk, + 0.07 percent fat and + 0.09 percent protein. Along with a longevity score of 106 and a Type rating of 112. “Trouble free, complete cows, in other words.”
The breeding program has been designed to deliver upon the needs of the dairy producer since the beginning and it will continue in this manner predicts Verbeek. “Changing breeding goals often doesn’t help speed up genetic progress. On our selection goals we are sticking with our early defined goal of 50% emphasis on production, since it starts with efficient production cows. In addition we place 15% of the emphasis on Type, 15% on Longevity and the remainder on other management traits. And with respect to the current hype on cross-breeding, Verbeek is clear: “ you’ll need to invest far more time if you want to be successful.” Alta has via worldwide partners access to Jersey, Brown Swiss and Fleckvieh bulls. “But we should look within our own Holstein breed before resorting to cross-breeding - looking for outcross blood lines.” He points to Breakout as an example. “After two years of production 83 % of his daughters have survived. That’s 19% more than the average in the Netherlands where typically 64% would survive to that point. Breakout shows that there is sufficient variation within the Holstein population.
Posted Dec 6th
