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Breeding is all about filling in the blanks. Six weeks into the season, I have just the one blank left on my breeding chart.
At week four of the breeding season, I decided to scan anything not served so as to get the “inside story”. I hadn’t scanned the autumn herd after breeding, so basically I drafted anything not served for spring 2017.
The most common reason for not seeing a cow bulling is that she is already in calf. Thankfully, that was the case here. Two autumn calvers that had been served but subsequently were added to the “to-be-culled” list proved not in calf. One had injured a leg and the other had two cases of mastitis which has raised her cell count. These are normally the ones that would definitely be in calf.
Of the eight others that had not bulled, six showed activity on the ovaries that should release an egg. Some may have already had silent heats – obviously there is no way I’d have missed them otherwise. I’ve got them all since then anyway. One has scarring from her last calving in September. The fact that it still has not healed means this first calver will be leaving the herd early. Disappointing, as I don’t remember any problems.
Youngstock management
The other is another first calver that, surprisingly for her age, had what looked very like grass tetany a month ago. She has an egg forming so treatment would be counter-productive. Mostly good news for a change.
This is the first year that I am only doing once-a-day (OAD) AI. It makes sense with the OAD milking. Results are positive with cows served in the first three weeks showing a 72% non-return rate. I’m keeping the tail paint topped up twice a week as I am very dependent on it with less herding.
The second change is that I only bought enough Friesian straws for the first three weeks. Since then, I have switched to easy-calving Hereford AI, along with a few Belgian Blue straws I had in the flask. The bull with the heifers on the outside block this year is an Angus instead of a Friesian. I know it will mean losing out on some of the high EBI stock. I just realised that I will not be needing as many replacements in the future and beef calves are making more than surplus dairy heifers. I am looking forward to much easier youngstock management next year with a more even aged bunch.
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