Breeding cows to AI from all around the world was like a fantasy come true for Goulburn Valley dairy farmer Gayle Clark.

“I was already interested in breeding kelpies, but I was like a kid in a lolly shop when we arrived here,” the Katandra West farmer says.

Twenty-five years later, her passion has led to a herd of long-lasting, trouble-free and highly productive cows. 

Ms Clark’s and husband Laurie’s 450-strong herd is 85 per cent Holstein, with the rest made up of Reds and Jerseys.

A lot of thought has gone into creating those cows, along with the decision to transition the herd to VikingGenetics.

“After doing it for 25 years, we want an animal that’s easy care and that’s what we’ve got,” she says.

And she likes to use a motor car analogy when describing her cows.

“The cow's conformation or type is her chassis; her health traits are the running gear – everything from gearbox to tyres – and her genetic productive capacity is her engine,” she explains.

“She can have the most powerful engine available, but unless that's harnessed to a chassis that can carry it and has the right running gear to go with it, it won't carry her across a chequered flag.”

Throughout the journey, Mrs Clark came to realise the cows making the most money are the ones that remain in the herd year after year.

“Choosing purely on productive capacity from a catalogue gets you a ‘sprinter’ however, if you recognise the money is with the cows making old age in your herd, you want a ‘stayer’.”

Ms Clark’s cows get in calf repeatedly, have very few health setbacks, and “physically hold together a lot better than most because their build quality is a house made of bricks, not straw”.

“In general, you don't notice them until they stand out as old or last of their generation.”

The farm has experienced a few hiccups along the way, and that’s where VikingGenetics came to help.

“We had an extremely wet year in 2016 and lameness was an issue, especially on the tall cows,” Ms Clark says.

At the same time, cows over 700kgs were struggling to fit in the rotary bales.

“Like many across the world, we started actively seeking a smaller statured cow; a grazing, walking kind of cow,” she says.

They  had a few Red cows in the herd and found an appealing red bull from VikingGenetics, Foske, to use across them. Foske made a big impression.

 “His progeny were `wow’ – they would be the first to get to the dairy, first to the feed, and were well built with a strong determination to thrive.”

In 2020 the Clarks needed more cows to deal with a huge autumn surplus of feed and purchased a late winter calving herd based on VikingGenetics and in calf to Viking bulls.

“What struck me about these animals was not only the ease with which they calved, but the speed. I don't think we had any that took more than 30 minutes, but most had a calf on the ground within 20 minutes of the first signs of the calving being imminent.”

Night watches of the calving paddock are mostly a thing of the past.

They also recognised for a cow to become an old cow in the herd, her fertility was paramount. Cows which don't get in calf, don't stay in the herd very long.

Mrs Clark hasn’t found a Holstein bull to surpass VHSparky for daughter fertility, though VHRomello comes close. These bulls are rated at 6.3 DPR and 4.5 DPR respectively on the US system.

“Fertility and mastitis resistance are two of the biggest contributing factors that carry a cow through to old age,” she says. “Knowing the Scandinavian farmer requires a vet to administer mastitis treatment, something we as farmers can do here in Australia, makes the data on health traits very real.”

In years gone by, the Clarks pursued rump correction, using some very white bulls that led to a rising incidence of cancers, mostly eye or third eyelid. They have been able to reverse that trend thanks to bulls like VHLeyton, VHBerosus, VHNader which have mostly black pigmentation.

The Scandinavian influence has also offered relief from inbreeding.

After transitioning to VikingHolstein, Ms Clark is happy with the results.

“I needed smaller stature cows and we like the fertility and calving ease,” she says.

She is now handing the breeding reins to daughter Hayley. Their son Ethan also works part-time on the farm, along with two other staff members.

“Hayley is a keen cow enthusiast, loves her animals and her engineering background benefits the farm by way of sound decision-making,” she said. 

“Hayley has applied sexed semen to the herd, leading to a large number of Holstein heifers being born in autumn this year”.