After grass, the second biggest focus on Tullamore Farm is breeding. Getting cow type right, choosing the right sire, making sure the herd is heading in the right direction in terms of indices and performance are all critical to a successful year. As we found out in 2017, if breeding goes wrong, it can have a lasting effect, years down the road.

Tullamore Farm.

We are trying to keep things as simple as possible on the farm and make sure all targets are hit over the next 10 weeks in relation to breeding. It has started well, with 35 cows bred in the first two weeks of the breeding season along with 41 heifers fixed-time inseminated.

Calving and turnout

What a difference 12 months makes. This time last year Tullamore Farm was still reeling from a very difficult spring 2018 and cows were being fed meal to maintain condition for breeding. Spring 2019 has been a lot different, with cows and calves being turned out after calving as planned.

Cows and calves had to be taken back indoors for a week at the end of February but other than that it has been a very smooth calving season. A new temporary creep area was constructed by converting a feed passage of one of the slatted sheds on the farm.

Calving 2019 went well, with 86 cows being turned out with 87 calves. There were three sets of twins and two calves lost. One was born dead and the other was found dead in a creep area at three weeks of age.

Calving assistance was also reduced this year, with just one vet assistance and no caesarean sections in 2019. Cows were fed soya pre-calving and calved down with good colostrum with calves up quickly and sucking. Cows and calves were turned out in small groups.

Routine tasks

All cows outdoors have received their BVD and Lepto booster shots and vasectomised bulls have also been vaccinated with two shots of each. Cows received a magnesium bolus at turnout and also got two mineral boluses prior to breeding. The farm has had issues in the past with copper deficiency and is in a high molybdenum area. There are currently seven cows pulled out for culling due to a range of issues, such as broken down udders, feet problems and poor docility at calving.

Heat detection

Tail paint was applied to cows outdoors on 15 April. Heats were recorded so Shaun could keep an eye out for cows he is expecting to come into heat when breeding started.

Two Holstein Friesian vasectomised bulls were purchased for €575 each and these are running with two groups of cows.

Moocall heat detection technology is being used again on the farm this year, with vasectomised bulls each wearing an electronic collar. Each cow gets a tag in her ear and when the collar comes into close contact with the tag (when the bull mounts the cow) a text message is sent to the farm manager’s phone to say the cow is in heat. This system reduces the amount of labour required around heat checking and farm manager Shaun Diver reckons he would be missing cows if we were not using it.

Tail paint will continue to be used as a backup and cows are being checked in morning and evening for heats. Cows are being artificially inseminated by a technician at midday each day so cows only have to come in once each day. Two groups of 40 cows and calves will be grazed with two vasectomised bulls and one group of 41 maiden heifers.

Fixed-time AI in heifers

In 2019 it was decided to go with a fixed-time AI protocol on the farm for the maiden heifers. A change to the system in 2019 has meant heifers are being put in calf and sold as in-calf heifers rather than as maiden heifers. This decision was taken as cow numbers are down a little in 2019 and to maintain the stocking rate heifers were kept. The plan is to sell them as in-calf heifers on Monday 28 October in Tullamore Mart. Labour is at a premium on Tullamore Farm and heat checking can take a lot of time especially with three groups of animals to heat check. Table 1 outlines the protocol used. Good conception rates (>70%) have been reported by farmers who have used this protocol in heifers.

The cost of the protocol is working out at €30/heifer, which is expensive, but if a high conception rate is achieved, it will be money well spent. Heifers showed really good heats and the AI technician was happy when inseminating. Heifers will be artificially inseminated once more in three weeks and then turned out with the stock bull for three weeks.

Breeding dates

Table 2 outlines important dates around breeding on Tullamore Farm in 2019. Breeding started on Thursday 25 April in cows, with 44 out of 80 cows bred so far. Forty-one heifers were inseminated on Saturday 5 May.

First scan will take place on Friday 29 June, with the second scan taking place on Friday 23 August. Stock bulls will be fertility tested one month prior to turnout with cows/heifers. AI will continue for eight weeks, with a stock bull being used for three weeks to mop up at the end. Breeding will last for 75 days or just two days under 11 weeks.

Bull selection

The farm plan is focused on producing maternal heifers suitable for replacements for the beef herd. With this in mind, AI bulls are chosen that have a high replacement index and are proven with good reliability. Cow type is predominantly Limousin X Freisian so the herd is generally very good for milk and fertility. Attention is also paid to terminal traits, with above average figures being sought for both carcase weight and carcase conformation. We have set a limit of €12/straw for AI bulls being used on the farm and selected the bulls using the ICBF active bull list on www.icbf.com.

This allows certain criteria be selected and it then prints out the bulls that suit the farm’s criteria. Many of the bulls this year are similar to last year’s selections with three additions, including Fiston, an easy-calving Charolais bull with high terminal figures. Fiston will be used on cows towards the end of the breeding season where heifers won’t be kept for breeding off later-calving cows. Tomschoice Ironstone, a high replacement and high terminal Limousin bull and Ewdenvale Ivor, an easy-calving Limousin bull that will be used on heifers. The average figures of the team of bulls are detailed at the bottom of Table 3 and this is the important figure to focus on. Cows are being selected for each bull depending on breed type, indices, calving history and visual attributes.