Dairy: The Milking Shorthorn makes a comeback

Sunday, January 10, 2010

They're smaller than Holsteins and, while they don't produce as much milk, they eat less, rarely require a vet and involve less labour

by SUSAN MANN

As their Holstein cows outgrew their stalls over generations, many dairy operators opted for remodelling their barns. Fenelon Falls area dairy farmer John Knox decided to replace the cows instead.

Knox, whose 400-acre farm is in Kawartha Lakes cottage country on the edge of the Canadian Shield, began switching to Milking Shorthorns almost 10 years ago because his barn wasn't big enough for the Holsteins. Now less than 10 per cent of his 45 milking cow herd is Holsteins, while the rest is Milking Shorthorns.

For Knox, owning the Shorthorns is like coming full circle because his grandfather had them too on a farm nearby. As he considered changing breeds, Knox says most people, except his wife, Julie, thought it was a bad idea to go with Milking Shorthorns.

"Somehow that made it more appealing," he says.

Knox, who farms with his father, Carson, had problems with cows getting caught in the stalls and "flopping around. It was very frustrating."

Compared to the Holsteins, Knox says the Milking Shorthorns are very athletic. "You should see them get up."

Another reason for the switch is that, while they had good production, Knox didn't feel he was making genetic progress because the Holsteins weren't with them long enough. Knox says the Holsteins only lasted three lactations, while the Milking Shorthorns remain in the milking string for more than five.

One drawback to the Shorthorn breed is that they produce less milk than Holsteins – about 6,900 kilograms compared to 9,000 kilograms per lactation for Holsteins. On the plus side, "they're a lot smaller and they don't eat nearly as much feed," Knox says, adding: "I think you're at least as far ahead financially as you are with Holsteins."

On his farm, the butterfat percentage for milk from Milking Shorthorns is 3.9 and protein is 3.6 per cent. The butterfat percentage for milk from the Holsteins on his farm is four per cent and for protein it's 3.4-3.5 per cent.

Knox figures that Milking Shorthorns eat about two-thirds of the amount of feed as Holsteins do. He bases this on observing two of his neighbours, one of whom had 50 Milking Shorthorns, the other 50 Holsteins. Both farmers had the same round bales of wet hay. The farmer with the Milking Shorthorns put out two bales for his cows every day, while the one with the Holsteins put out three. On both farms, the cows consumed it all.

Knox says that, with the Milking Shorthorns, he rarely has a vet bill, cows don't eat as much and he saves on his labour as the cows don't need help calving. What's more, he didn't have to renovate the barn "and that would have been a big deal for me," he says.   

It would be nice if the Shorthorns produced more milk, says Dave Prinzen, who farms with his father, Bernard, in Prince Edward County. He was looking to try something different when he bought his first Milking Shorthorn about five years ago after a herd in the county was dispersed.

Some of the benefits, such as ease of calving, balance out his milk volume concern, says Prinzen, who milks 60 cows and crops 750 acres. Ten of his milk cows are Milking Shorthorns, another 10 to 15 are Brown Swiss and the rest are Holsteins.

Until the 1930s, lots of farms had dual-purpose Shorthorns, as they were called until the early 1990s when the name was changed to Milking Shorthorns to reflect the breed's changing genetic focus. "They were a very staple breed and well known," explains Ryan Barrett, secretary-manager of the Canadian Milking Shorthorn Society. 

In the 1940s and 1950s, Holsteins shot to the forefront of dairy breeds with higher milk values. Many farmers starting to specialize in dairy switched to that breed.

Milking Shorthorns became less popular and substantially decreased in numbers. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the remaining breeders began modernizing the breed and changed its focus to primarily milk production. "They saw that the breed had benefits, especially with efficiencies of feeding," Barrett says.

Milking Shorthorns are quiet-natured cows that don't tend to get sick a lot. Knox can attest to that. On his farm, the vet comes once a month to check if cows are pregnant. Otherwise his cows hardly ever need a vet for sickness. They also have excellent mothering abilities.

"There are a lot of good management traits in the cows for people looking for animals that still produce well but need a little less maintenance," Barrett explains, and Prinzen agrees. "They're a really easy cow to work with. I never have to treat a cow for anything or pull calves."

Barrett says the breed is currently regaining popularity in Canada. Memberships in the Canadian Milking Shorthorn Society and cow registration numbers have both steadily increased in each of the part four years. 

It's hard to estimate the total number of Milking Shorthorns on farms because not all herds are on milk recording, but Barrett says there are about 1,500 with 60 to 65 per cent of them in Ontario.

What's in store for the breed's future? Barrett says they'll continue looking for breeders interested in the benefits of the breed. "We think there are lots of farms where Milking Shorthorns would be very suitable." BF