NAV calculates breeding values jointly for dairy cows of the major dairy breeds in milk recording in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
Nordic red breeds
Nordic countries have the biggest red dairy cow population in the world, about 125 000 milk recorded cows including Finnish Ayrshire (57 000), Swedish Red (55 000) and Danish Red (23 000).
Holstein
Holstein is the most common dairy breed in the world and also in the Nordic countries. Denmark has 340 000, Sweden 104 000 and Finland 94 000 milk recorded Holstein cows summing up to about 538 000 cows.
Jersey
There are almost 2 000 milk recorded Jersey cows in Sweden and about 1 000 in Finland. Biggest population – about 72 000 milk recorded cows – is in Denmark.
In addition to the main breeds included in NAV genetic evaluation the Nordic countries also have some minor dairy cattle breeds.