Watch: feeding for improved fertility in autumn herds

The programme farmers are now approaching the halfway point in the breeding season for autumn-calving herds. Three of the farms have a large percentage of their herds calving in autumn, which makes good use of farm resources in terms of housing and grazing land.

In the case of the programme farms, autumn cows are a high priority management group. With cows trying to maintain body condition and milk production, they have an increasing requirement for energy in the diet.

Having cows on a consistent, high-energy diet is important to maximise conception rates and keep calving periods tight.

Thin cows and first-calved heifers are ideally kept as a separate group so that they are receiving adequate nutrition.

Separating these animals eliminates bullying from older cows in the herd and allows target feeding to improve body condition.

Cows are being fed top-quality silage plus concentrates during the breeding period. Once breeding has finished, concentrate levels are normally reduced or cut from the diet.

However, this winter, meal levels will be reduced depending on silage reserves and the relative feed value of fodder.

In-calf heifers are still in a period of growth, so these animals are also receiving priority management to ensure that they develop fully during the winter.

In the case of this week’s featured farmer Oliver McKenna, the combination of good nutrition, herd management and focusing on selecting fertile productive cows has seen 20 out of 23 cows (87%) served inside a two-week period.

For Oliver, keeping these cows on a consistent diet and routine between now and the end of the year will help deliver high conception rates and leave a tight calving pattern next August.

Week in review

The breeding season for my autumn herd is well under way, with the first cow inseminated on 18 October. In total, I have 24 autumn cows, but only 23 of them will be bred again. I have used 100% AI to breed cows for a few years now and prefer it to using the stock bull, as the quality of calf and the choice of genetics is much greater.

Cows were inseminated to natural heats. I was monitoring cows for bulling activity myself, which was made easier with cows displaying really strong heats from the outset.

By 5 November, 20 of the 23 cows had been served in just over two weeks. The remaining three cows were synchronised and inseminated on Sunday 26 November. I decided to synchronise them for a few reasons.

One cow was a first-calved heifer and just slower to come back into heat. Another cow had been cycling before the start of the breeding season, but she since developed a bit of endometritis and was washed out and treated.

The final cow has no known problems and could have just been showing shorter or weaker heats that were missed.

Cows have been inseminated using Limousin and Simmental sires.

The breeding period for the autumn herd will finish at Christmas, with the cow not being served culled in spring after weaning.

Feed

Autumn cows have been housed since mid- to late September and settled on to the winter diet well in advance of breeding.

They are currently on 35kg/day of first-cut silage (39.4% DM, 10.6 ME, 13% protein and 67 D-Value) along with 2kg/day of a 16% protein ration. The ration is a blend and costs £188/t.

In addition to this, cows are being fed a fertility booster mineral. Once cows are settled in-calf, they will be moved back on to a general-purpose mineral.

Heifers

I have a group of 11 replacement heifers inseminated along with the 23 cows. While cows were easily picked up in heat, there was very little breeding activity in the heifers in the first two weeks of the breeding period.

Only two heifers were served to natural heat. The remainder of the group were put on to a synchronisation programme and inseminated on 14 November.

The heifers were served to Angus sires and a Hereford bull. The group is currently on silage and 2.5kg/day of ration plus the fertility minerals.

Mineral supplementation

I have had a few issues with the occasional dwarf calf born in the past. One of causes is believed to be a mineral deficiency, especially manganese.

There was a dwarf calf born this year in the autumn herd, so I am offering additional minerals to both the spring and autumn cows to see if it eliminates the problem.

While cows were well supplemented in the past, I maybe took my eye off replacement heifers. This year, they will have access to minerals all year.

Spring herd and finishing cattle

There are 28 cows and six heifers set to calve from mid-February onwards, with cows on 25kg/day of silage and minerals.

After our latest TB test, I lost four cows and one in-calf heifer from the spring herd which was a blow. However, it has taken some pressure off housing and feed demand.

We are running tight on silage, so I am planning on stretching better-quality silage by offering more meal to autumn cows and growing stock.

Given the price of additional silage, there is better value in buying meal at £190/t and stretching the high-quality silage that I already have on farm here in Eskra.

Bulls

I had nine 2016 autumn-born bulls on ad-lib meal and straw being intensively fed for slaughter.

One animal was killed this week as he was well covered. He had a carcase weight of 375kg. The remaining bulls will probably be ready to kill towards the end of next month.

They are on 3.5kg/day of a 16% ration and silage.

Meal will be increased in the spring, with bulls moving on to a lower-protein high-maize finishing ration for the final 120 days before slaughter.

All cattle on farm have been treated for fluke, worms and lice.