Anyone who hears such facts as 1200 dairy cows on a farm, milking four times a day, high daily milk yields as well as fully air-conditioned stables will certainly first think of the USA or Canada. But the breeding station Tian Quan Breeding Dairy Farm in Shijiazhuang is located in the Chinese province of Hebei. Almost all embryos imported from North America to China come to this station to be distributed from there to the country. The farm is one of the 22 so-called core breeding farms in China, which in future will provide the basis for the national cattle breeding.

Since 2011 the breeding station Tian Quan Breeding Dairy Farm, which combines milk control and insemination under one roof, is one of the demonstration farms of the German-Sino Cooperation Project on Animal Breeding and Husbandry in China. In cooperation with the breeding station and the MASTERRIND GmbH, which is supporting the project as major business partner, a practical training for the type classification of Holstein cows was carried out.

On behalf of the MASTERRIND GmbH, the training was mainly carried out by Mrs. Diana Walter and Mr. Volker Meins. During the practical training they explained the classification according to the German classification system. Holstein is an international breed which allows to compare a classification in China with the international standard. Employees from the 20 leading cattle breeding companies in China were invited to the seminar.

The aim of the training was to enable the participants to carry out an evaluation of the cows for an aimed mating, for example with the BAP Global offered by VIT Verden. This possibility is gaining increasingly interest in China and is part of a range of services demanded by large dairy farms.

Among the guests of the seminar were Mr. Shi from the BDCC insemination station and Prof. Zhang from the CAU University in Beijing. Both are key experts for cattle breeding and the introduction of type classification in China. This also shows that the high level of German Holstein breeding in China is very well recognized. Very positive evaluation of the seminar was provided through the project’s “Wechat” group. Additionally, further interest and inquiries for practical training for the type classification were expressed also from other provinces.

The seminar provided a successful demonstration of the German Holstein breeding in a very competitive market.