One of the most common ways of benchmarking suckler herds against each other is by using the calving reports. This week, we have taken a close look at the performance of the herds participating in the programme to examine how they are performing.

Farmers in phase one joined the BETTER farm programme in 2008, while phase two farmers started in 2012. At this stage, almost all farmers in the programme have made substantial changes to their farming systems in terms of removing non-performers, tightening the calving interval, etc.

In terms of the analysis, there are no real concrete differences between the performance of those farmers participating in the programme since phase one and those who joined in phase two. In previous years, a greater difference was evident.

Calving every 365 days

The target on all farms should be to have a cow which calves every 365 days. The national average is 412 days, while the average across the BETTER farm programme is 377 days. The average calving interval varies greatly across the farms; from 412 days at the top end to 355 days at the bottom end.

Higher calving intervals in some herds have been directly associated with issues such as infertile bulls running with cows last year and farms altering their calving periods. In the case of the herd with a calving interval of 412 days, this occurred due to a bull becoming infertile during the breeding season and the problem not being detected quickly enough. In the case of this herd, the issue added 28 days to the calving spread in just one year. Sub-optimal bull fertility can decimate a herd’s performance in just one season.

The average calving interval has been reduced gradually over the past few years right across the farms. Analysing individual cow data has been a major benefit here. Cows that consistently ran higher calving intervals were culled from the herds and heifers with better fertility brought in to replace them.

Annual target

Maximising output on the farm starts with maximising output per cow. The target is to produce 0.95 calves per cow per year.

Last year the participants averaged 0.9, just shy of the target. The national average rests at approximately 0.8 calves per cow per year. This means that the average BETTER farm participant with 50 cows is producing five more calves per year than the average suckler farmer.

At an average sale value of €800/head, this equates to an additional €4,000 of output on a 50-cow farm. It is probably one of the most important targets to work towards. The best performing farm in the programme managed to produce 1.02 calves per cow per year. Naturally, the number of twin calves born per year will have a major effect on this, but so too will mortality and the number of cows recycled for spring to autumn and vice versa.

Mortality

Mortality can, in many cases, be completely outside the farmer’s control. However, if health issues arise and mortality increases, it will have a profound effect on farm output in subsequent years.

The targets are to have mortality under 2.5% at birth and under 5% at 28 days. The participants have had 3.1% dead at birth and 4.7% dead at 28 days.

The lowest level of mortality recorded on the farms was 1.1%. This was down to two reasons: careful management of animals at and after birth, and somewhat down to luck. The highest levels of mortality at birth were recorded on farms that also had higher levels of difficult calvings. This underpins the importance of selecting easy-calving sires and/or matching sire selection to cow calving ability. Although calf quality is important, a poor quality calf is much more valuable than a dead one.

Longevity

We all want a cow that is going to last in the herd. The average number of calvings per cow in the programme was five, which is well ahead of the national average. This figure varied from 3.3 to six between the farms.

The average number of calvings have been lowest in fast-expanding herds, where numerous heifers were brought in annually in recent years. Naturally, cull cow value must be taken into account here.

When cull cow prices are high, as they are at present, higher levels of culling may be feasible, depending on replacement costs.

As a herd stabilises in terms of numbers, calvings per cow should increase. Where the survivability is high, this will allow the farmers to operate a more targeted culling programme as there will be less involuntary culling.

Calving pattern

We have also examined the calving pattern of the herd. The intensity of calvings varied significantly from area to area.

Two issues stood out clearly. Where both spring and autumn herds are present, there is a tendency by some farmers to recycle cows from one herd to another. Ideally, each herd should be maintained as a separate entity. Allowing cows to slip around also increases the calving spread.

Land quality and climate conditions had an effect on calving interval, but also affected the calving spread. There is a more spread-out calving pattern in herds in the northwest and, to a lesser extent, herds in the southwest.

Table 2 details the calving data from the herds from July 2014 to June 2015. The difference in the number of calvings is not a real issue, although it points to the average herd in the northeast calving 20 additional cows per year than those in the northwest.

Even where higher numbers of calving took place, there was no slippage in terms of herd performance. If we look at calving interval, this is one of the major tests of farm efficiency. Herds in the northwest had a calving interval which was four days longer than the farmers in the southeast and the southwest, and five days longer than herds in the northeast. Undoubtedly, this signifies some effect of land type and quality on the ability of the farmers to keep close to the 365-day target. In terms of calves per cow per year, it is also a factor, with herds in the northwest again showing slightly lower results than in drier areas.

Although this is not completely down to a land type and weather effect, it does have some impact.