Brian Reidy: Tips for making autumn breeding go all the smoother
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Autumn-calving dairy and suckler herds will start breeding soon. Thankfully, most are only being housed in many parts of the country.
I will be housing my own herd over the coming weekend as grass covers are getting low, unlike last year where housing when I housed in a hurry because of storm Babet on October 18.
The burden of two weeks less silage to feed and two weeks of extra slurry is massive on any farm. Hopefully, we can shorten the winter at the other end of the winter, too.
I will be doing a pre-breeding scan in the coming week. Any tail clipping, dosing and updating of heat detection collars will be done in the week after housing.
Cows, be they milking or rearing a calf need to be in positive energy to improve conception rates. Cows that are in a negative energy show poorer signs of heat, have shorter heats and won’t go in calf as easily.
In dairy systems, matching nutrient supply to the cows' genetic potential and her parity is very important. Where possible, first and second calvers who are still maturing will benefit from extra supplementation.
Concentrates need to be appropriate to balance the forages being offered, be aware that many silages are again low in protein this season. Protein is not cheap but is a critical driver of feed intake, and cows that eat more have more energy available for milking, solid production, body condition and, ultimately, fertility performance. The first thing a cow won’t do is go in calf if she doesn’t get enough energy from calving to service.
It is so important to know the quality of your base forage before you devise a feeding plan for any stock. If you plan to feed no concentrates to your autumn Sucklers rearing calves, then you really must have excellent silage.
There is not much silage like that on farms this year. Supplementing silage will almost always be necessary to get cows back in calf and keep supplying sufficient quality milk to calves.
If you are only feeding straight silage to cows, consider a mineral bolus and/or top dress with a mineral. The mineral status of silages this year are variable, so supplementation is essential to boost animal performance.
Accurate heat detection is such an important part of good fertility in any herd. If you don’t submit a cow to AI or to the bull, she certainly can’t go in calf.
Keep good records of any heats you see, regardless of if you are using AI or a stock bull. One of the main purposes of this should be to allow you to identify cows not cycling and in need of intervention.
Heat detection aids, such as tail paint and scratch pads, are every bit as useful indoors as they are outdoors. A growing number of dairy and suckler herds have also introduced heat and health monitoring systems to help with heat detection and achieve more accurate timing of AI.
These systems are also ideal for identifying cows that are not bulling and will allow you to do something about it. These cows can be scanned to identify any issues they may have, such as uterine infections or damage caused by a previous calving, which may have gone unnoticed.
If a significant number of cows are not cycling, don’t ignore the possibility that pre- or post-calving nutrition may not be required.
