World Conference Report - Finland 2008

by John Cochrane, Breed Secretary

In early June, your President, George Templeton, and myself boarded the early morning flight from Manchester to Helsinki in Finland where we were representing your Society as delegates at the 2008 World Ayrshire Congress. George had been to Finland before when he judged there in 2005, but for me it was a first, and I couldn't wait to be there and see for myself, this country and its people and cows.

As the plane circled Helsinki in preparation for landing, the scenery below was breath-taking, with its changing patterns of water and trees, with the red farmhouses mixed in between.

On boarding the bus, kindly arranged by Jennifer Adams, it soon became apparent that southern Finland is mainly flat with an equal mix of lakes and trees, so you have breath taking views round every corner. It is also a very clean country and traffic is very light by our standards.

View from the hotel in Finland

We arrived at our hotel in Hameenlina and after checking in, it was not long before everyone was chatting as if they were old friends, as the barriers of race and colour melted away. Our welcome dinner was held at the nearby Hame Castle, a beautiful medievil fortress situated on the edge of the lake, where we enjoyed our meal while listening to traditional music played by musicians dressed for that time period.

Next morning it was down to business, with our first seminar which was in two parts. The first was on recording and utilising cow records and herd health details, delivered by Juho Kyntaja from Finland and Niels Erik Larsson from Sweden. Both from countries who have pioneered this work.

The second, and probably the most interesting of all the seminars as far as breeders were concerned, was entitiled Ayrshire - A Perfect Breed For All Environments. The lead off speaker for this part was Mirja Koljonen, probably one of the most talented women in the cattle breeding world who has been president of the Finish Ayrshire Breeders since 2004. She spoke on the suitability of Ayrshires for organic systems as well as complete diets.

Next up was Paul Duffy who with his wife milks 680 cows in south island New Zealand who spoke on the pluses and minuses of Ayrshires under the grass systems of New Zealand. In typically robust style, he highlighted where improvement is needed and it is not surprising that Ayrshire genetics in New Zealand are on an upward curve with Paul's drive and enthusiasm.

Last, but certainly not least was Ivan Malleson from South Africa who spoke on Intensive Production. Ivan along with his brother, milk 800 registered Aryshires, producing all year round to supply the needs of the family dairy factory. He spoke of the attributes of the pure Ayrshire in all year housed herds highlighting things like fertility constitution and high milk quality and it was easy to see why this quiet spoken man had been farmer of the year in 2007 as his attention to detail was fantastic.

George Templeton stockjudging

After lunch we travelled to view the Asmo Nucleus herd near Jokionen. The farm houses high genetic merit cows and heifers which are flushed, with embryos and bulls being sold. Although we were not allowed to view the herd in the tiebarns because of health conditions, we were treated to a parade of eight typical members of the herd with a short leet of the best four being used for a stockjudging competition. Our president was one of the master judges, but was perplexed when his favourite did not reach the last four.

That evening we dined on a cruise ship which spends its time as a floating restaurant up and down the lake that adjoins the hotel. In temperatures reaching 28 degrees centigrade it was a memorable experience in this land where the sun doesn't set.

Wednesday morning saw us up bright and early to attend our second seminar, Ayrshire Breeding.

Lead speaker was Asko Maki Tanila from Agrifood Research, Finland. His theme was utilisation of Ayrshire genetics and he stressed the need for large numbers of young bullls to be tested with daughter numbers being a minimum of 100 to ensure reliability, otherwise you were basing your future decisions on breeding on very unreliable information which was a poor basis for genetic progress.

Next was Chris Strouder form Semex Canada on Managing Ayrshire Diversity in a small production. He stressed the importance of sourcing Ayrshire genes from around the world in our bull programmes as we cannot affort to ignore any gene pool that can forward progress of the breed. Most of his top bulls have foreign blood in them.

Last was Jukka Poso from FABA, the Finish Breeding Cp-op speaking on "Finland, the pioneer of health trait evaluations". Finland has used health recording since 1990 and he spoke of all the interlinked recording data schemes that have given the Nordic countries a big lead in this department.

After lunch, we visited two farms in the region to view typical high yielding Ayrshire herds. The first was to visit the Tapola family who have 60 cows in a tie barn system with the herd averaging 9,531 kgs, 4.05% bf, 3.56% p, 305 days. Here we saw good daughters of Finnish bulls like Lammin and some excellent Jurist and Peterslund daughters. Bulls from this herd had been to AI units.

Next visit was to the Torttila family's herd of 67 Ayrshires housed in free stall and averaging 10,241 kgs, 4.26% bf, 3.55% p, 305 days. This herd also sells bulls to AI. Cows are by a mixture of Finnish, Swedish and Canadian bulls with the Finnish ones still out milking the others but not so good on type. Jerry, Copper, Jurist and Peterslund were the best of the imports.

Torttila family farm

Ayrshire calf

Thursday morning saw the last of the seminars being held. This time, country reports on the Ayrshire breed's progress over the last four years in each member country which was interesting though I felt that they became propogandist instead of factual, but I was impressed by some of the cows in the Columbian presentation.

After lunch we travelled to Seinajopki, where the International Ayrshire show was being held, a four hour journey.

The show was held in a vast arena and we had time to wander among the cows as they were being prepared for the next day and also attend the "Sale Of Stars" with guest auctioneer being Grant Roy.

Next morning saw a 7.30 am start for those of us on the board of directors of the World Federation this time the AGM, the third such meeting since we arrived. Under the able Chairmanship of Kevin Lang, these meetings were very productive and will have a big impact on the breed worldwide.

The show began at 10.30 with the junior calf class of over 30 calves, with internationally respected judge, David Mayo from Australia making the placings. I don't intend to report on each individual class, suffice to say that in general the winners were by Canadian bulls, with Jerry, Copper, Pardner and Conn daughters predominating. Champion went to a really nice Pardner third calver with a Jerry daughter in reserve. There was an impressive line up of Orrko daughters on the Finnish stand, and it was not hard to see why he is their biggest selling bull ever. Other highlights were the winner of the aged cow class, a really good Cornelius daughter that George had made champion when he judged, and Robert Adams showing a big sharp calf with its top line hair at least two inches tall in the obstacle contest. For me, the other interesting thing was the many good cows whose dams were by Jurist including the second prize heifer that we all could have taken home.

After a quick wash, we were back at the arena for the breeders party, a every enjoyable event with top class singers as entertainers. As for the karaoke, the least said the better, apart from the fact that the Scots aided by the New Zealanders took part, which is more than can be said for the English. Other memories are walking back to our hotel at 2.30 am in broad daylight in our shirt sleeves.

Highest yielding cow owned by the Haltunen family

Ayrshires owned by the Haltunen family

Saturday was our last day as we were not staying for part two. We began with a 9.30 am start to travel to view the herd of the Haltunen family. This high yielding herd, averaging 11,697 kgs, 4.24% Bf and 3.53% P, 305 days is housed in a tie barn building with cows pastured through the summer. Attention to detail is paramount here with the buildings and machinery kept in "as new" condition and tha farm had won over 30 certificates of excellence. Nine bulls had been sold into AI. Genetics were 100% Finnish.

After lunch, we travelled to view the FABA Bull Stud housed near Sonnihoui. To say that this centre was impressive would be a vast understatement. One of three such centres that house the bulls of the stud, this one has cost 10 million euros to build and nothing had been spared, so that conditions for bulls and humans alike was fantastic. After a warm welcome including some "barbershop" singers, we were invited to view the bulls through a one way mirror as they walked by. It was amazing to see these bulls often weighing more than a ton being led by women mostly under ten stones with only a rope through their ring. Over 540 Ayrshire bulls were housed here which is a vast investment in the breed. After drinks and some delicious new made pancakes we attended the embryo sale held in the viewing gallery. Prices were very reasonable with George purchasing some USA embryos from the top cow family there, which will be a welcome addition to our gene pool over here.

After a quick shower back at the hotel we were off again to a farewell dinner and reception for those who were only attending part one at a quite unique venue called the Kasino, a hundred and fifty year old building situated on a narrow strip of land between the lakes and surrounded by mouthwatering views. Amid such natural beauty, it was hard to say goodbye to Finland as well as all the other delegates who were staying for part two. Dairy farming in Finland is almost entirely done by women as is the running of most agricultural related services, and I must say that they make a fantastic job of it, as with the organising of this conference, and I would like to thank FABA and the Finnish Ayrshire Association for a job very well done. Roll on South Africa 2012.