Read part one: why are my heifers scanning poorly?

Two things will suffer where heifers are empty: breeding herd numbers and output.

The first thing to do is to take a blood test and rule out disease. If all is well, consider your options.

Buy in

The obvious thing to do is to buy in pregnant heifers. Had the farm’s own heifers been on track with liveweight they should be well above 500kg at this point. House them in two weeks’ time, feed silage and meal and aim to finish in November, just in time for cows and calves to come in behind them.

Admittedly what they fetch at slaughter may fall short of covering the cost of an in-calf continental springer, but every cloud has a silver lining. The vast majority of Irish suckler herds lack milk. Turn this potential disaster into an opportunity for your herd. Look for half-bred (dairy cross) replacements, whose cost should be covered by the slaughter cheque. I like a strong British Friesian/Simmental, but in truth any continental crossed with a dairy animal makes a lovely cow. See this week’s BETTER farm page in the Irish Farmers Journal for the perfect example.

Yes, they can and do produce U-grade calves with the right bull – contrary to popular opinion - and their weanlings will be heavier given the cow’s milk potential.

They might be hard to get, but are worth bringing in if at all possible. These cows and their daughters will be a huge boost to any herd. Many overlook their docility too.

If these types of (dairy cross) animals are coming in, chances are that they’ll have been vaccinated for IBR. If this vaccine was live, best practice is to begin vaccinating your herd against it too. Consult your vet on this.

Carry over

While this might be an option, I would avoid it if at all possible. If a herd has been closed for a long time, has settled at a preferred target numbers-wise and there are enough heifers in-calf coming through based on culls, it is just about OK to carry the animal over if she’s extremely well-bred. Bringing new animals into a naïve herd like this isn’t best practice – but can be done without any issues. However, in reality there are few commercial animals valuable enough to justify a carry over. It’s like buying a house to rent in Dublin city, then leaving it empty for the first year.

Output

Consider the output that’ll be lost with your empty heifers. In beef production, it’s all about kilos going out the gate. How will you replace the lost potential calves? Stores for grass? Bulls for a quick turnaround in the shed? Dairy cull cows for grass? Dairy calves to rear? Reared calves for grass? There are returns to be made on all of these options if they’re done right. Look at the facilities you have and look at the time you can give. Reared calves or stores can run with the cow herd, while finishing bulls stay on the slats and are in and out in four months. Even farmers who have had no pregnancy issues could consider the above – there could, and should, be more beef going out the gate on most farms.

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Part one: why are my heifers scanning poorly?