Watch: be on the lookout for repeat breeding activity

Breeding activity has been high on the programme farms, which will hopefully translate into high conception rates to first service.

Stock bulls have been with cows for three to four weeks on many of the farms, which means that cows that were covered in the opening weeks of breeding should now be coming back into heat if they have not held to the bull.

Keeping a simple record of when cows are in heat will pay dividends. If you notice multiple cows coming back into heat, then there may be a fertility issue with either the stock bull or cows.

Picking up such problems early means that action can be taken to replace the stock bull, preventing a major slip in the calving pattern.

Even with the breeding season under way for spring-calving herds, it is not too late to start noting cows as they come into heat.

Simply recording the cow’s tag number and the date she was seen in heat is all that is needed.

Conception rates

As a rule of thumb, the breeding target for a well-managed, compact-calving suckler herd is to get at least 70% of cows in-calf with each service.

Many herds will have higher conception rates. But assuming a group of 35 cows with a stock bull at 70% conception rate, there should be 25 cows in-calf during the first three to four weeks of breeding.

This leaves 10 cows still to serve over the next six to eight weeks. Having a significantly higher number than this may indicate a fertility problem with either cows, or stock bull, that needs to be investigated.

Week in review

Silage quality top priority for autumn calving

The weather has been reasonably good over the past month, allowing us to get an early cut of silage. Soil type on my farm is heavy, which makes it difficult to plan ahead for silage and grazing.

My cows are mainly autumn calving. However, calving is spread out over five to six months, which is longer than I would like.

With cows milking through the winter, silage quality is important. I sell calves as weanlings, so weight gain is crucial to get calves heavy enough to generate a good sale price.

I cut 37 acres of silage back on 24 May, turned it twice with a wuffler and baled it the following day. This land was drained and reseeded last year and is the main silage block.

In total, I made 306 bales of good-quality grass silage which I am pleased with. These bales will be targeted to freshly calved cows to help push milk yield in early lactation.

All silage work is carried out using my own machinery and this is a big advantage for my farm. I always set out to make the best silage possible, but we are so weather dependent, we have to take every opportunity we get to harvest grass. Waiting on a contractor means we could easily miss out on the weather.

This week, I made another 80 bales of silage on 15 acres of rented land. These bales will be fed to the dry cows that will be calving after Christmas and in early spring.

Second cut

The 37 acres of silage ground cut on 24 May was grazed lightly with some cattle and sheep, then closed up for silage on 31 May.

Ground got 2,000 gallons/acre of slurry and three bags of 24-6-12 which cost £280/t. This is the same fertiliser application I used for first cut.

Re-growth is coming back well and my plan would be to make another crop of bales in mid to late July.

Cost of bales

Taking a similar yield of eight bales per acre for second cut, the cost of making silage is around £9 per bale.

This is based on a roll of plastic costing £52 and wrapping 22 bales. Bagged fertiliser costs £42/acre. Allowing £5/acre to mow, £5/acre to bale, £5/acre to wrap and transport, £5/acre to turn grass twice, £5/acre to spread slurry and £5/acre for spreading fertiliser, total silage costs amount to £72/acre.

Fodder budget

Last winter, I ran short of silage, so the aim is to harvest as much grass as possible this year. I need enough silage to cope with a seven-month winter. Housing starts in early October and cows don’t go to grass until May.

A rough fodder budget for my farm is outlined in Table 1. Total forage requirement is approximately 656t.

Calculations are based on 45 cows eating an average of 40kg/day over 220 days. Freshly calved cows will eat more than 40kg/day in early lactation, but early weaning in spring will also save on silage. Their calves will consume small quantities of silage in the first couple of months of life, so the budget is based on 180 days for them.

The early spring-calving cows have a budget of 30kg/day as they will be weaned in September, put on to maintenance feed and silage increased in late pregnancy and post-calving.

Spring-born calves will be sold next March so I have budgeted for 180 days of feeding. Between first and second cut, I should have enough fodder in store.