@conference {40818,
	title = {Profitability of rotational crossbreeding programmes in commercial dairy herds},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {56},
	year = {1996},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {216-220},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {Dairy farm profitability can be increased through the use of superior  cows in the lactating herd. Genetic superiority is determined by additive  genetic effects and heterosis (present in crossbred animals). Profitability is  the difference between income (sale of milk, bobby and salvage animals)  and costs (related to the number of cows in the herd and the land area  farmed). At comparable production, bigger cows consume more feed  reducing their profitability per unit feed consumed. Previous studies have  identified the high productivity of first-cross cows comprising Holstein- Friesian (F) and Jersey (J) breeds. In a self-replacing herd, first-cross (F1)  animals will not be continuously available unless some straightbred animals  are maintained. One approach for exploiting heterosis in a self-replacing  herd, is to make use of rotational crossbreeding. This paper reports  profitabilities of some rotational crossbreeding programs in comparison to  farming straightbred dairy animals. A model was used to estimate on an annual basis, the nutritional, biological  and economic performance of whole herds consuming 12,000 kg dry matter  per ha. Expected performances for straight- and cross-bred cows comprising  F, J and Ayrshire (A) breeds, were obtained using estimates of breed and  heterosis effects derived from Livestock Improvement},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Lopez-Villalobos N and Garrick DJ}
}
