“I just couldn’t get the type of heifer I wanted to buy. So I decided the best way to get quality heifer replacements was to start breeding the entire herd to maternal bulls,” states Ger.

The herd is predominantly Simmental bred, with some Limousin genetics used. Cows are inseminated to A.I. which is carried out by Ger. His system is simple and extremely well managed, with male calves finished as 14-month bulls and surplus heifers sold for breeding.

The farm consists of 32ha, all of which is in-grass. The land is split in two blocks, with cows grazed on the main block and silage made on an out farm. Cows usually go to grass in mid-February as soon as ground and weather permits. The farm is grazed in paddocks with excellent infrastructure for moving stock. A few home-made alterations to fencing eases the management task of inseminating cows while at grass.

Fertility is exceptional, with the herd having a calving interval of 375 days. Calving is completed in a nine week period and conception to first service A.I. is usually around 85%. There are no special tricks or techniques used to achieve this figure. It basically comes down to:

Good management at the key stages over the year.

High herd health.

The correct nutrition pre and post calving.

Culling unproductive cows.

This year, calving started on the 21 January and Ger hopes to keep moving this forward by at least a fortnight. Heifers are calved at 22-24 months and calve two weeks ahead of the cows. Ger gives the extra time to ensure that heifers get more attention before the bulk of cows calve.

As heifers can take longer to come back into heat, the extra fortnight gives them a longer period of time to recover after calving.

Heifer selection

Ger is of the opinion that you need to have the cows calving in a compact period if you want to keep your own heifers. Tight calving removes all infertile and problem cows from the herd. There is no benefit in keeping a heifer born to a problem cow as the herd does not make progress.

At weaning, all heifers are weighed and penned together for similar management. This means that every heifer gets a chance to make the selection criteria, as opposed to selecting the stronger animals only. The more animals given a chance to breed, the greater your options and the harder you can cull. Heifers averaged 325kg at weaning back in October.

Replacement rate

The herd varies from 20% to as much as 30% replacement rate, depending on the number of heifer calves available, but it usually runs around the 20% rate. This year, 12 heifers will calve into the herd. Ger believes that keeping the herd young is essential to make genetic progress and keep conception rates high.

Culling cows around six years old maximises cull value and covers heifer rearing costs. This year, heifers will get a maximum of six weeks to conceive before being culled.

Performance

Silage quality was 60DMD in 2012, therefore a greater reliance on concentrates was the only option for keeping heifers on target liveweight gain. Heifers received 2-3kg of concentrates, increasing to 4kg in mid-winter, and have averaged 0.6kg liveweight/day since housing.

Current liveweight is 420kg, with a target of 450kg at insemination. Heifers go back to grass on the out farm approximately one month before they are inseminated. Ger finds the combination of diet change and energy in spring grass provides a fertility boost.

Breeding

As the cow herd and first calvers are grazed on the home farm, the maiden heifers graze the out farm. It is not ideal for heat detection so a mixture of tail paint and Kamar pads are used.

Given that the heifers have increased activity after turn out, the mixture of heat detection aids gives a more accurate indication of when heifers are on heat. Heats and service dates are recorded to observe for repeats three weeks later. Heifers are vaccinated for BVD and Lepto.

Bulls used have been predominantly Simmental or Limousin, with TSO and CQA being the two sires that have performed best on the herd. Bulls are selected for growth traits followed by milk. It the animal does not have enough growth then heifers will not be heavy enough for serving at 15 months.

High milk and calving ease of daughters are the main maternal traits selected for breeding. Ger has found that using easier calving bulls does not mean heifers that are harder to calve.

Management at calving

In-calf heifers are housed as a separate group to manage pre-calving. A pre-calver mineral is fed and changes to a post-calving mineral after heifers calve down.

Heifers are also vaccinated for scour along with the cows. After calving, heifers are supplemented with 2kg to 3kg of concentrates, depending on forage quality and body condition.

When they go to grass, concentrates are withdrawn as grass is able to sustain the energy demands of the heifer. Given the high milk yield of the cow, concentrates are not feed in the diet post-calving as they are also turned out to grass.

Ideally, calved heifers would be run as a separate group, but, to keep the system simple, Ger runs cows and calved heifers together. Calves are restricted in suckling to stimulate cows and heifers coming back into heat.

This has been a management task Ger has carried out regularly over the years. A modified fence allows him to separate cows and calves with ease daily. Cows are then brought into the yard for insemination.

Marketing

Ger is an active member in his local discussion group, facilitated by local adviser Michael Bourke. Surplus heifers have been sold to members of the discussion group in the past, as well as to other farmers in the surrounding area.

Heifers are sold at 12 to 15 months and weigh 420kg to 450kg. Sale price is at a premium, with heifers selling for €1,100 to €1,300.

Male calves are finished as bull beef at 15 months. Carcase weights are usually 380kg to 400kg with bulls consuming around 1.6-1.7 tonnes of concentrates. The present group of bulls are 11 months old and weigh just over 520kg. Liveweight gain is lower than Ger would like at 1.3kg/day on average. The group is currently eating 10kg of concentrates and 2kg of straw.

Future plans

As part of the BETTER farm programme Ger has developed a three-year plan with his programme adviser, Alan Dillon.

The plan aims to increase output by pushing his stocking rate from 1.6LU/ha last year, to 1.85-1.9LU/ha this year.

To achieve a higher gross margin, the option of using sexed semen has been discussed to increase the number of heifers born.

Moving calving forward will increase weaning weight, so budgets will be completed annually to decide if males are better sold earlier or finished.