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Scanning has taken place on the Dairylink Ireland farms in Co Cavan and the results show that fertility has continued to improve on the two spring-calving herds.
On David Brady’s farm near Stradone, 74 out of 81 cows scanned in-calf, equating to an empty rate of 9%.
Of the 24 replacement heifers, only one scanned not in-calf (4% empty rate). Charles Clarke near Bailieborough had an empty rate of 6%, after seven out of his 110 cows scanned not in-calf. Last month, 42 out of 45 heifers were scanned in-calf (7% empty rate). Empty cows on both farms will not be re-scanned as breeding started in early May and finished in mid-July so results will be accurate.
Predicted calving dates given by scanners indicate that the percentage of cows that held to first service is 74% and 75% on David’s and Charles’ farms respectively. Genetic improvement in fertility is continuing to filter through in both herds. For example, David’s herd EBI is €65 with a €17 fertility sub-index, whereas 2017-born heifers have an average EBI of €140 and a €69 fertility sub-index.
Autumn-calving herds in the programme have also made progress in tightening calving profiles over recent years. Measures taken by project farmers include selecting bulls for fertility, following an effective herd health plan, improving heat detection and culling late calvers.
This has a knock-on effect to allow for further improvements in herd fertility as the most fertile cows remain in the herd and breed replacement heifers.
Taking steps to tighten calving periods means more cows will be long enough calved and eligible for artificial insemination (AI) on the first day of breeding the following year, which allows for further fertility improvements.
Stradone, Co Cavan
Ground conditions remained wet last week and we have been reactive in housing cows to avoid poaching.
Reducing grass growth rates and plentiful silage stocks have also contributed to our readiness to house cows.
Housing removes demand on grass and allows for covers to build, which should pay dividends later in the autumn and especially next spring.
Concentrate feed rate has increased from 2kg to 3kg/cow/day and, although milk protein levels dropped back slightly because of less grass in the diet, yields have held up well.
Improved weather this week will hopefully mean we will get back to grass again and grazed paddocks will be followed with slurry until mid-October.
Our farm cover this week is 880kg DM/ha with a growth rate of 40kg/day. We are only stocked at 2.1 cows/ha so our demand is low but we would prefer to have a higher farm cover. Daily milk yield is 16l/cow at 4.41% fat and 3.67% protein (1.33kg MS/cow).
As well as cows that scanned empty, there are six more cows earmarked for culling.
These include a few late calvers which will further tighten calving next year.
At breeding, both cows and heifers were artificially inseminated for four weeks and a sweeper bull was then used for eight weeks. Scanning dates indicate that around 74% of cows held to first service.
We AI for a shorter period as the aim is to produce enough replacement heifers to cover an expected replacement rate of around 20% with any surplus heifers then sold.
The plan is to increase cow numbers next year to around 100 and so around 10 additional cows will be purchased during the winter to do this.
Bailieborough, Co Cavan
Cows have remained at grass throughout the poor weather over the past few weeks. However, achieving ideal clean-outs has become more difficult and cows are getting fewer grazings in paddocks.
With around 100 cows due to calve by 10 March, an issue next year could be meeting the demand on grass in the spring.
It is important that I meet a target finishing cover of 700kg DM/ha to 750kgDM/ha at the end of the last grazing round. Cows are now being fed some bales after milking and concentrate feeding has been increased from 2kg to 3kg/cow/day to reduce demand on grass.
The last grazing round will start this week but I might decide to close paddocks earlier if growth rates tail off quicker than usual in the coming weeks.
An option that could be considered if grass is tight in the spring is to house cows and feed silage for two days a week. If weather is poor in the spring, this will have to be done anyway.
At breeding, cows were artificially inseminated for nine weeks and a bull ran for three weeks. This means there should be a good number of heifers suitable for replacements coming forward as scanning dates indicate that around 75% of cows held to first service.
There are 43 heifers coming into the herd this year and so around 25 cows that were scanned in-calf will be selected for either culling or selling as in-calf cows for milking. This will allow me extra flexibility to cull for production to increase milk solids and also reduce cow size.
Monday management: last round of grazing
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