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One thing the Beef Data and Genomics Programme has demonstrated thus far is that selection for desirable traits reaps dividends. Now that the programme has forced them down a different road, former sceptics are beginning to come around to the fact that there is serious substance to the genetic selection message. The right breeding decisions can make our farming easier and more profitable.
AI breeding affords farmers the opportunity to make the best breeding decision for a given cow every single time. While there are stock bulls out there that’ll do this for us, they are few and far between.
Although it has a reputation for being labour-intensive, with the right setup AI breeding can be easy and efficient. Here we will take the case of a 20-cow group running a 25-acre field.
As with most farms, the trough is located in the corner, as is the crush.
Cattle don’t discriminate when it comes to paddock shapes and sizes. The wheel-spoke design here might look unorthodox, but it means that the farmer can easily round up his cows for AI when needs be – each division has direct access to his penning area. We are assuming that a permanent mains perimeter fence is already in place in this field. Then, it is a case of splitting the field with temporary reels into long, narrow grazing strips. Cheap and cheerful.
Two little tweaks can make life easier when rounding up cattle for AI. Though we’re making the temporary paddock divisions with single reels, it’s best practice to double up wires in areas where the squeeze will come on, ie the last 50 yards leading into the crush.
Calves will walk out under single strands for fun and this can often upset cows and send them running. Purchase three or four heavy duty geared reels to split the field and a further two cheaper, poorer-quality reels to act as a second, bottom strand and move them with cows.
Concentrates
The second tip might seem strange for many. It involves offering concentrates to the cows daily in the penning area. Yes, it is an extra cost that is not entirely necessary from a nutritional point of view.
We are not talking about pumping cows with meals here, merely offering 300-500g per head – roughly around 10 cents daily in feeding costs.
It will do three things. While spring and summer grass contains more than enough energy for our cow, the more energy we get into her, the better chance we have that our cow will be cycling and ultimately hold in-calf when she’s served.
The concentrates will also serve as a medium for getting magnesium into our cows – crucial for the prevention of grass tetany. The third and probably most significant plus of concentrate feeding from a farmer point of view is that the cows will soon associate your presence with feeding and ultimately round themselves up.
Rounding up
It’ll become a case of dishing out the meals in the penning area, looping around the animals as they come in and shutting the gate behind them.
Setting up the farm for AI is the first job, the second is heat detection – we need to be as good as the bull. In order of decreasing effectiveness, your realistic options are teaser bulls, Flashmate sensors, scratch card patches, capsule patches and tail paint.
A teaser bull is the ultimate AI aid, but not always a goer on farms. For me, a scratch card patch (€1.25/cow) with a strip of tail paint (standard emulsion paint will do fine) either side works well.
Other principles
With AI, the AMPM rule should be adhered to. If a cow is seen standing to be mounted she should ideally be served 12 hours later.
When penning cows, we need to minimise stress. Their calves should be penned also and the time in the pen prior to AI should be as brief as possible.
Many AI farmers also split cows and calves before and during the breeding season. Research shows that breaking the maternal bond in this way will speed up the onset of reproductive cyclicity post-calving.
While this might seem extreme, the least we can do is encourage calves to creep forward, away from cows, by raising electric wires in areas.
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