Success For Semex Denmark
Submitted by: Harry Schuiling, General Manager Semex Holland, Belgium and Denmark
Semex scored a huge success at the Danish National Holstein Association (SDM) annual meeting, held on Friday, September 25, 2009. During the morning meeting Chairman Peter Laudsen and General Manager Keld Christensen presented the association members with the annual figures and statistics, followed by an open discussion about the Danish Holstein breed.
Beginning at noon, four farms in the Ribe area opened their doors for every Holstein member and interested person to visit. One of those farms was the 250 head Stortoft Holsteins, owned by Torben Kragh and his family. Together with the Semex Team in Denmark, the Stortoft family presented their entire herd which averages 12,000 kg, their elite individuals and their interesting automatic feeding system.
The Stortoft dairy operation is in an old traditional Danish barn that was retrofitted into a nice, new tie-stall facility, that professionally shows off their cows. The Stortoft herd has been sourcing high quality Canadian genetics for many years, and at the SDM they showcased offspring of Comestar Laurie Sheik as well as other elite Canadian individuals. In all, over 50 animals were prepared for the open house by the Stortoft and Semex Teams, leaving visitors speechless as this sort of presentation was a first in Denmark. Never before had so many people visited a Danish farm with this kind of presentation at the Holstein meetings, and retired Danish AI manager Torben Muller commented that this presentation was “second to none.”
Special thanks to all of those that made this tremendous display possible, including the Semex Embryo Department for their tremendous efforts to so clearly connect the value of Semex and Canadian genetics to the increased quality in a herd. Additionally, we would like to express our great respect and thanks to Torben Kragh and his family, as well as the Semex sales manager in Denmark, Peter Bealum, his crew and his family for making the the Danish SDM Day 2009 “second to none”.
