In total, 172 cows of the 320 available have been bred to date with all cows served to dairy ai. The breeding season for the maiden heifers started on the same day, ten days ago. If you include the maiden heifers submitted for breeding today, there are 72 of the 95 maiden heifers (75%) bred so far.

So all in all, despite the difficult spring, submission rates are on track and cows are showing strong signs of heat. However, the real proof of good fertility will be the conception rate to these serves in these first three weeks, and it will take another four to five weeks to determine that.

Perfect groung conditions

The main herd (about 270 cows) are getting three to four grazings per paddock and no strip wires are being used as ground conditions are perfect. Only 4 mm of rain was recorded on Sunday night. Cows are going into covers of about 1,400kg DM/ha and they are cleaning them out to a cover between 100 and 200kg DM/ha. The second herd (the lame and thin cows) are grazed close to the parlour and don’t do the long walks.

This week nitrogen will be spread following the cows (three or four grazed paddocks together). Up to now the whole farm has been bulk spread. We will have a full report on breeding, milk price, costs and grass growth in Thursday's Irish Farmers Journal.