Download Masterrind: One of the Biggest and Most Agile Players in Europe

Masterrind:
One of the Biggest and Most
Agile Players in Europe
600 employees, 600, 000 herd book cows, 80 young sires purchased yearly and 2.6
million doses sold, 1 million of which are exported to 50 countries worldwide. The
numbers generated by Masterrind, Germany’s biggest breeding organization, are big
enough to register in the international arena. Founded ten years ago, and incorporating
four well-known shareholders in the RPN, ZEH, SRV, and WEU, the company has
ambitious goals moving forward. Its expectations of itself as a leader in Europe are
high, but thanks to a clear vision they will be met sooner than later.
STEPHAN SCHNEIDER
W
CHRISTINE MASSFELLER
e have been sitting in the office of
Cord Höltje at the headquarters of
Masterrind in Verden, located in
northern Germany, when his colleague Dr.
Josef Pott tells of new plans. The number of
purchased young sires on a yearly basis is to
be doubled. Instead of 80 young sires, Masterrind wants to purchase 160 young sires in
future years. Not to simply bring more bulls
into production, but, as Pott says, to be able
to incorporate a secondary selection step. Pott
continues, ‘we want to have a large selection
of candidates available, if in the first year there
is movement in breeding values between the
purchase date and the beginning of sperm
production. We have seen that the genomic
values of young sires can change a lot. They
are influenced by different factors, like basis
and model adaptations, but also adjustments
in the breeding values of their sires. The bigger
the group is that we can select from, the higher
the likelihood that we will bring bulls into production that will meet our standards. Our goal
is and will remain the offering of a selection
of sires that is so variable that it will truly be
able to meet the many different needs of our
domestic and international clients.’
Polled animals form one of many niches tat Masterrind caters to. Kid-Red-PP, a Kanu son out of a Bookem daughter to SHB Mrspoll VG-86, is one of
their top sellers with his all-round abilities.
• Founded: 2006
• Shareholders: The 4 breeding and herdbook
organizations RPN, ZEH, SRV, WEU
• Headquarters in 3 locations: Verden, Meissen
and Bad Zwishenahn
• Subsidiaries in 8 countries: Great Britain, the
Netherlands, China, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech
Republic, Romania, Morocco
• 600 employees
• Purchased bulls / year: 80 (goal: 160)
• Semen sales in Germany: 1.85 million doses
• Semen exported: 1 million doses
NO STANDSTILL
It is not by chance that we begin our article
about Masterrind, part of our series on the global players, with that statement from Josef Pott.
Masterrind has been the national leader in German market for a while. And this is not simply
due to their size, but above all because of their
ability to continually reinvent themselves. No
other station in Germany has gone through as
many changes in recent years and given themselves such a modern image, and at no other
company in Germany is the breeding program
as closely coupled with the marketing department. Masterrind began marketing their sires
internationally under their own management
8 years ago. They have subsidiaries in 8 countries and export to 50 different countries all over
the world. For every market they want the right
product. It is no coincidence that we are meeting specifically with Josef Pott and Cord Höltje
at the Verden headquarters. Pott and Höltje are
2 of 4 Masterrind directors who cover the whole
• Export to 50 countries worldwide
• Most important export markets: China, the
Netherlands, France, Austria, Great Britain,
Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, Canada
• Proportion of genomic sires / export: 50%
• Proportion of genomic sires / domestic: 80%
• Current top-sellers in Germany: Snow RC, Baldur
(Balisto-Epic), Kid-Red-PP (Kanu-Bookem)
• Current top-sellers for export: : Snow RC, Beart,
Fanatic, Joclassic (Supersire-Beacon), Starhawk
(Supersire-Observer), Mozarella (Mogul-Destry)
dynamic. There is constant movement and a lot
is asked of a company that wants to grow on
the international market. One has to be flexible
and adaptable in order to succeed,’ says Höltje.
DIVERSITY
The requirements of the group of 160 young
sires, from whom the selection for the domestic
and international markets will soon be selected,
are extremely high. But which requirements
does Masterrind definitely want to meet? The
answer from Cord Höltje leaves room for different ideas. ‘All of them but not all of them,’
he says with a grin before being more clear.
‘Of course, it is about achieving high breeding
values and about having a selection that satisfies all specific genetic requirements. We have
markets that want polled and others that want
Red Holsteins. Others want better fitness and
yet others more production, which is particularly
true internationally for countries in Eastern Europe and Asia. We still see a major market in the
„International breeding possesses an
unbelievable dynamic.“
– Cord Höltje
spectrum of operations from breeding, herd
book maintenance, marketing of breeding heifers, writing agricultural articles and, of course,
insemination of different dairy and beef breeds.
From an international perspective, they are the
key figures of the company. Pott, the director for
the production branch, sets standards that are
implemented in the area of sperm production.
Höltje has the reins in his hands for the marketing department and determines the direction
for their growing international marketing team.
It is clear to both that a standstill in either of
their domains means taking a step backwards.
‘International breeding possesses an unbelievable variance while simultaneously being highly
HOLSTEIN INTERNATIONAL 68 2/2017
traditional Holstein countries here in Western
Europe and North America. The focus there is on
conformation and pedigrees. Our team for international marketing knows their markets very
well. That is why they have a close relationship
with our sire analysts.’ And where and by which
criteria are selections made? ‘That is difficult to
answer simply,’ says Josef Pott. ‘Some months
a large part of the selected bulls come directly
from farms in North America, as there are almost only local breeders here, and other times
the bulls come from other sources. For us, the
origin is not decisive but rather the question of
whether a young sire is marketable or not. That
is why there is not one specific breeding index
HOLSTEIN INTERNATIONAL 69 2/2017
Cord Höltje (left), business director
for the semen marketing branch, and
Dr. Josef Pott, business director for
the production branch, to which the
breeding program also belongs.
Article
published
by:
www.holsteininternational.com
that we orient ourselves by. The RZG is naturally
our most important selection criterion but when
we find a bull that is not as high on the German
basis but tests well on TPI, LPI, ISU or NVI, then
we buy it for that respective market. Perhaps the
main reason that we place more emphasis on
international indexes compared to other German organizations is because we market our
sires internationally ourselves. For us it would
be a dream to have breeding values from sires
for all relevant international indexes.’
EMOTIONS
It is clear from further observations that Masterrind follows their own paths in comparison to
other German stations. One observation is that
there is an above-average presence of truly internationally recognized families, and the other
observation is the above-average level of conformation in the lineup of sires. ‘Did you know,’
explain Pott and Höltje with equal conviction,
‘that breeding is very pragmatic in many areas
today but that there is still enormous amounts
of emotion invested? From our point of view,
conformation and pedigrees are topics that
are clearly important to many breeders and
dairy farmers and that emotions address. If we
need to choose between two bulls with similar
breeding values, then obviously, we will go with
the bull with better conformation and a more
renowned international pedigree. You see, the
proportion of genomic young sires already has
an extremely high level now and will continue to
increase, particularly for our international sales.
Only absolute exceptions among the daughterproven sires are able to generate sustained high
sales numbers. We must accept that. The challenge is then to find the young sires that will
be marketable. Conformation and pedigree are
therefore still useful promotional tools.’ l