Watch: breeding progresses on Dairylink farms

Since breeding began on Dairylink Ireland farms at the end of 2018, updates on the proportion of eligible cows and heifers served on each phase two programme farm have been included in the weekly table at the bottom of the page.

A summary of the submission rates over the first five weeks of breeding is outlined below in Table 1.

The rates were based on the proportion of cows and heifers that were deemed eligible for service each week by each farmer. On most farms, eligible cows are past the usual voluntary waiting period of 42 days, although some farmers serve cows before this.

The submission rates were not outlined on a whole-herd basis, as most phase two farmers have spread calving profiles.

Although most Dairylink farms are predominantly autumn calving, cows are generally still calving in the spring.

Dairylink adviser Conail Keown comments that the submission rates in Table 1 are good given that a three-week submission rate of 60% to 70% is generally the aim on most farms.

He points out that a strong focus on checking heats during breeding, pre-breeding heat detection and veterinary examination of non-cycling cows have helped submission rates.

Room to improve

He said that there is significant room for improvement with submission rates when taken across the entire herd, as some only had one third of cows eligible in early December.

The focus on most Dairylink farms is to improve herd fertility through developing a more compact calving profile by having less late calvers.

Increasing the proportion of cows that are ready for service at the start of breeding, while maintaining good submission and conception rates, means more and more cows (and replacement heifers) will be eligible at the beginning of breeding every year.

Weekly round-up

Breeding started on James King’s farm near Ballymena on 1 December 2018. As Table 1 shows, over 75% of eligible cows and heifers were served within the first five weeks of breeding.

James has recently changed his system to a flying herd, where all replacements are bought in.

He sold off heifer calves and most maiden heifers at the end of last year. However, 20 maiden heifers remain on the farm at present.

In the first five weeks of breeding, 12 of these heifers were served and will be kept as replacement stock.

The other eight are lighter and James is considering delaying breeding these heifers until May and then selling them close to calving next spring.

A key aim on the King farm is to tighten the calving profile to establish a more compact autumn-calving herd.

At present, cows are calving from September to April. There are 106 cows calved so far this year, with around 55 left to calve between now and the end of April.

There were 60 cows ready for service on 1 December on James’s farm. The aim is to buy in early autumn-calving replacements this year, so more cows are eligible at the start of breeding in 2019.

Heat detection

Heats are detected by pedometers fitted on most cows and through visual observation for the rest of the herd.

Only beef semen has been used on the King farm during the 2018/19 breeding season, as all calves are sold from three to five weeks of age.

With beef straws cheaper than dairy semen, he also points out that it can be used more liberally, particularly on cows that have not displayed clear signs of heat

One of the key benefits of moving to a flying herd has been the reduced labour requirement, with feeding, detecting heats and serving heifers housed on outfarms.

James says that he has noticed a difference with workload this winter, which is allowing him to spend more time in the main cubicle house getting cows in calf.

With beef straws cheaper than dairy semen, he also points out that it can be used more liberally, particularly on cows that have not displayed clear signs of heat.

Fodder budgets calculated for the King farm before heifers were sold showed that silage stocks would be tight for the winter period.

However, there is significantly less demand on winter feed now, which has meant additional forage has not had to be bought in and silage has not had to be stretched with extra concentrates.

Grass measuring

The farm was walked last week for soil sampling and grass measuring ahead of 2019 grazing.

Average cover on the grazing platform is low at 382kg DM/ha (utilisable), as some young stock were grazed around the yard before being sold in the early winter.

The mild winter and no extended grazing on outlaying blocks means that there are stronger covers on silage ground. Covers are clean and do not need to be grazed down before slurry is applied in February.

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