Agriculture

Crisalis, the Friesian super bull: world record for longevity and protein milk

The bull Crisalis, symbol of zootechnical excellence, holder of genetic and production records, with protein-rich milk and successful offspring.

13 May 2025

Crisalis, il super toro Frisona: record mondiale di longevità e latte proteico

2' min read

Key points

Features
L’azienda
The project

2' min read

A 'super bull' with almost 10,000 daughters on 500 farms in the country, and many more worldwide.

Her name is Crisalis, and she is a Friesian breed that has just become a world record holder in terms of genetics, as well as in terms of the productive and morphological performance of its progeny.

The features

A symbol of excellence of Italian animal husbandry, responding to the new needs of breeders: excellent milk rich in protein with high cheeseability, fertility, longevity, solid limbs and reduced inbreeding.

The record bull lives at the Centro Tori di Vallevecchia, owned by Veneto Agricoltura and managed by the subsidiary Intermizoo. Here he grazes - together with 200 other Friesian, Limousine, Belgian Blue, Pezzata rossa Simmental, Brown, Angus, Hereford and Wagyu cattle - and on Monday 12 May he received a visit from the President of the Region Luca Zaia.

'The Intermizoo company,' Zaia concludes, 'sells in more than 50 countries around the world, with a turnover of 9 million euro, 30% of which is abroad, and with a plan to grow to 10 million by 2025. There are 4 thousand breeders served in Italy. For years we have been receiving offers to sell this jewel of zootechnics and genetic innovation, which we want to keep authentically Venetian".

L’azienda

Intermizoo, a company specialising in artificial reproduction technologies in the bovine field since 1974, has selected Crisalis still calf, thanks to its breeding and semen processing techniques. In fact, the company is a pioneer in the field of sexed semen, which is the result of a delicate, non-invasive process that allows spermatozoa of a specific sex to be selected, with the aim of obtaining a higher percentage of female calves. Since 2023, Centro Tori Vallevecchia has had its own sexed semen laboratory, where Electa, a highly innovative and technological bovine semen, is produced.

The Vallevecchia Bull Centre in Brussa di Caorle presents ideal conditions for the development of top-quality cattle. Besides the optimal climate, mitigated by the proximity of the sea, what makes the difference at the Bull Centre visited by Zaia is the careful management of the pastures.

The project

Also through the launch of the 'Grazing Bulls' project, which aims to assess the welfare status of grazing cattle and the forage production capacity of drought-prone and highly saline soils, Veneto Agricoltura and Intermizoo mark out the shifts in the four pens in Vallevecchia according to precise rhythms of balance between soil regrowth times (the regeneration with regrowth of plants) and the fattening status of the bulls.

Among the top 30 bulls in the world, 8 are bred by Intermizoo, a leading company with 55 employees, as well as technicians, consultants, salesmen, dealers. Crisalis, a 6-year-old specimen weighing 12 quintals, + born in Germany on 6 September 2019, was transferred to the Vallevecchia Genetic Centre on 28 October 2020. Already 3,000 of his daughters produce milk of excellent quality.