Early dairy cow scanning results show that empty rates have held at between 7% and 10% this year, despite the long, wet spring that cows endured.

Carlow-based scanner, Myles McDermot said that buffer feeding by farmers this year has helped synchronised heifers have standard results this year, bar some “exceptions.”

“They have performed very well in most cases. Given the weather we had, everyone was saying: ‘this is going to be a disaster.’”

Four scanners the Irish Farmers Journal spoke to this week agreed that despite the difficult weather throughout the country, farmers have been “on the ball” by providing additional feed for cows.

However, Dominic Black, a scanner based in Roscommon, added the caveat that “generally the farmer who scans early, they are on the ball anyway.”

He also added that cows are not out of the woods yet: “If we’ve a tough winter, it might still come against them.”

Sexed semen

“Sexed semen results are disappointing to say the least this year,” said Fermoy-based specialist, Dan Ryan.

“The stress that’s being engaged with on farms around the country is unprecedented,” he said.

Cavan scanner David Caffrey agreed that results “are not where they want them to be at” which he said can be tough on small farmers.