Photo: Susan Murray RNZ
Common New Zealand dairy breeds like Friesian, Jersey and KiwiCross Cows may need to make way for Montbeliarde, Normande, and Fleckvieh milking cows.
Jeff Clark of Glenbrook, South Auckland has always liked to try different things and push boundaries so now he's having fun with three European breeds of dairy cows.
They are dual-purpose, which means they are good for milking, but any unwanted offspring are good for beef rearing, meaning he doesn't have four-day-old bobby calves heading to the meatworks.
Jeff says the push to look at different breeds came from his wife who really disliked the whole bobby calf scene.
The Montbeliarde is the second biggest milking breed in France and Ireland, and Jeff says all three breeds are great to handle and are performing well to date.
He says they have a good temperament and the beefies get up to killable weights quicker than his Herefords.
Jeff Clark expects his new cows to stay milking for at least 8-to-10 years, meaning they'll overcome the increasingly common issue of cows not performing well for more than a handful of years.
Photo: supplied
