If you ask the average person to describe a dairy cow they might say something like “black and white spots.” More than likely, they would be thinking of a Holstein cow.
Because Holsteins are heavy milk producing cows, most of cows from Wisconsin, as well as the rest of the US are Holsteins. But heavily breeding all of our cows to one breed has eventually led to some health issues.
In 2004, Clover Hill Dairy started to cross breed our animals. We wanted to improve the overall health of our animals, with benefits including: great feet and legs, reproduction, feed efficiency, ease of calving, and decreased metabolic issues.
Maybe the most important thing we wanted to achieve was make our milk better suited to the cheese making process. Cross Breeding has helped us to increase the butterfat and protein in our milk, which makes the cheese making process easier and more efficient for the processors, resulting in a higher cheese yield.