Finally in the third attempt, the highly anticipated 45th International Osnabrueck Black & White Days took place again with a full program and live on site. Due to the covid-19 requirements, only an auction sale with online bidding had been able to held as a light version of the whole event in the last two years. Due to this longer break and all the changes that have occurred in terms of travel habits, structural changes of farms and general framework conditions in agriculture, there were questionmarks for whether and how this event would be received in 2023.

However, the final evidence was live on site on January 27 and 28, 2023. At the breeders’ reception, more people than usual at previous events showed up, with more than 500 guests and breeders. Likewise, the stream of visitors on Saturday, January 28, 2023, took no end and ensured both a full parking lot and fully occupied seats at the show ring and especially full aisles in the stables already in the late morning.

Top cows in all age categories

In the three age categories (young, medium, old) 80 cows competed in 10 different classes. As it is well known, in Osnabrueck no final Grand Champion selection is carried out in order to maintain suitable fullness of the udder. So the winners are determined immediately after the respective judging classes. While in previous years one of the winning cows was often considered the superior one, this year every winning cow from each class (the Champion Heifer to the Medium, Old and daughter group Champion) was almost on the same quality level.

Out of the three heifer classes, a freshly calved, mostly white Mirand PP daughter from Milchhof Kilver named GNH Oceana emerged as a convincing winner in all aspects. She has the potential to follow her dam GNH Lineman Olinde, who was presented 3 times in a row at the Black & White Days. As a reserve winner judge Armand Braun decided for another light coloured and already very developed, but at the same time very harmonious Sidekick of a new young show producer, the Wortmann farm from Hesselteich. The 3rd class winner, a dark and extremely functional and correct Crushabull presented by Klöcker GbR, could not interfere any more in the awarding of the winner titles.

Champion Young
GNH Ocean – Milchhof Kilver in Ostkilver

Reserve Champion Young
Willow – Wortmann in Hesselteich

In the medium cow classes of the age of up to 5 years, second and younger third calved cows competed. In the end, the duo from the first class with winner Lambda Faible from Schulze-Placke in Vennermoor, who is enormously developed in body for her age and has an impressive rear udder, was ahead of the very young reserve winner 1st Grade Safari from Annen in Loxten, who has an extremely tightly attached udder. The other class winners, such as Secretariat Felina from Nölker in Pye and MEY Lambda Dana from Meyer in Kettenkamp – also very complete in all aspects – could not quite match the winning duo in freshness and quality.

Champion medium – Faible – Schulze-Placke in Vennermoor und
Reserve Champion – Safari – Annen in Loxten

In the older cow classes the breeder Niermann had a hot iron in the fire with its GHO Ladd P Chanel, an older third-calf cow with an impressive development, and also the oldest cow in the show ring, KNS MoM Dorfheimat (out of Ramos Dorflady) could win the final cow class. In the two other older cow classes, the fourth-calf, light-colored with plenty of body length and a top udder HWH Pledge Snowwhite presented by Bielefeld in Dalvers and a dark, extremely correct Jetset Lesly out of Redecker’s L-line emerged as class winners. In the winning decision, Armand Braun chose the two dark cows, GHO Chanel as the winner ahead of Lesly as the reserve winner.

Champion Old
GHO Chanel – Niermann in Schiplage

Reserve Champion Old
Lesly – Redecker in Schwagstorf

Daughter groups of exceptional quality

For this year’s daughter presentation, the two bulls ESSEX RDC and ROYCE (second calf) were selected. Both do not rank in the absolute German top group with RZG 137, but can convince with enormously uniform appearance and qualities that currently many Holstein breeders worldwide are looking for.

Essex RDC (Esperanto x Filou RDC x Maddock) has repeatedly attracted attention in recent months with outstanding heifers at the Osnabrueck auction sales. The 10 daughters presented in the ring impressed not only judge Armand Braun, who started his comment with: “Overwhelming quality and uniformity …”. His daughters convince with impeccable good movements on ideally angulated rear legs and especially with quite excellent, tightly attached udders. In addition he provides very good health and fitness values. As a duo for the winner selection of the best cow of this daughter group, Armand Braun chose the striking black-colored Alaska from Meyer zu Reckendorf with an impressively udder ahead of the red-colored Ribanna from Rüther GbR in Rothertshausen, which had already been presented at the international exhibition „EuroTier“.

In terms of uniformity and quality, the presented nine Royce daughters were also impressive. Royce comes from Gr. Honebrink in Nordhausen and is a Roxy B son from the Mabelle family. The second lactation Royce daughters presented themselves very youthful with enormously firm and well-attached udders. Compared to his partly somewhat extreme linear profile in body and foundation traits, they show very good development, a strong topline and great movement. Obviously due to the very good persistency and further development from 1st to 2nd lactation, Royce was able to gain 5 RZG points in the current December breeding value. With RZRobot 130, he remains one of the most suitable bulls for robotic farms in Germany, especially since his daughters combine this with a very calm, pleasant temperament (milking behaviour 112). As a top duo, Armand Braun selected two light-colored cows with Rekord from Timmering-Brandl Milch KG in Vehs, which still showed slight advantages in terms of front udder and topline compared to the mainly white Lisa from Lübbert in Schledehausen. In the following selection of winners of the daughter groups, Rekord then prevailed over the Essex daughter Alaska from Meyer zu Reckendorf as reserve winner.

Top Genetics with many highlights

The Top Genetic Auction was held as a hybrid auction with live and online bidding for the first time. At the start, 11 calved heifers from top cow families with exceptional qualities were in focus and found new owners quickly given the current strong demand for milking heifers. They achieved an average price of 4.509 € (with max 5.500 €). In the case of the genomic young cattle, the bids went up even faster. Five of these valuable breeding calves alone achieved prices of over 10.000 €. The top price of 31.000 € was even achieved twice, first by Westrup-Koch Milch GbR for the highest Sunrise daughter with 164 gRZG and secondly for the youngest calf named Winstar Acora. Besides her top modern pedigree, Winstar Acora offers sky-high values in many genomic breeding value systems, like 164 gRZG in the German system. The final bidding duel was ultimately won by a regular client from Bavaria at a price of 31.000 €. With an average price of 7.822 € and a 100 % sales rate, this was the crowning finale to an all-round successful event.

Topseller WKM Nothing Else
Westrup-Koch Milch GbR in Linne

Topseller Winstar Acora
Hehmann & Gerdom GbR in Destel

LOT Name Price Breeder Buyer Region
10 WIT Catch Me 5.500 € Wiethege, Halver Nordrhein-Westfalen Abgekalbte
12 UEH Nebel 5.500 € Uhlmann-Escher, Nordholte Nordrhein-Westfalen Abgekalbte
14 Hellender Olivia 6.500 € Büscherhoff Holsteins, Mühlen Nordrhein-Westfalen Typtier
22 WKM Nothing Else 31.000 € Westrup-Koch Milch, Linne Niederlande Genomic
29 Winstar Acora 31.000 € Hehmann & Gerdom, Destel Bayern Genomic
21 Rakete PP 21.500 € Milchhof Severinghausen, Severinghausen Niedersachsen Genomic
25 WKM Nordsee 12.000 € Westrup-Koch Milch, Linne Nordrhein-Westfalen Genomic
23 WW Hazel 11.000 € Weber & Weber, Wimmer Niederlande Genomic

Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to all helpers and supporters of the event and, of course, to the many visitors who showed their appreciation for the Osnabrueck Holstein breeders by paying us a visit.

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