A NEW dairy hybrid is claimed to combine optimum health and fertility with optimum yield.

The Norstein - a Holstein and Norwegian Red cross, pictured left - is being promoted by the Green Acres AI company.

The breed is a completely new hybrid which, in trials in the US, is said to have produced major cost savings through significantly lower stillbirth rates, easy calving, and lower disease incidence.

At the same time, it has come out on top for milk production and fat and protein.

Green Acres has been granted the sole rights to market Norwegian Red semen in Great Britain and Ireland by Geno Global of Norway.

Jason Kean, customer service manager with Green Acres, recently held a series of workshops featuring breeding experts Dr Ted Burnside and Egil Hersleth from Geno Global, who discussed the benefits of the new Norstein crossbreed.

"Producers are finding that generational crossbreeding of the Holstein with traditional out-crosses is causing a dilution of the Holstein's high yielding strain," said Mr Kean.

"They are finding it difficult to maximise health and fertility traits and yield on a sustainable and long-term basis. Through the Norstein and the continuous crossbreeding programme we have developed to support it, Green Acres is now able to offer UK farmers a new and improved breeding solution."

Dr Burnside, technical adviser, said that, by rotating breeding of the Norstein between the Norwegian Red and the Holstein sires over alternate generations, the continuous cross-breeding scheme would ensure that each succeeding generation of cross-bred females was as productive as the last.

Green Acres can be contacted on 01292 670 775