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Fragmented land blocks, a lack of good handling facilities on outfarms and the time required for heat detecting cows make AI less practical for spring-calving herds as breeding occurs while animals are at grass.
That said, there are a number of suckler herds using 100% AI to serve cows with conception rates many stock bulls would struggle to achieve.
Good planning and using of heat detection aids can remove some of the obstacles to using AI at grass. Outlined are five tips to make the most of AI for spring-calving herds at grass.
1 Prioritise cows
Start with a small group of cows and give these animals priority grazing close to the main yard, where they can be brought in and out of the handling unit with ease.
The same applies to outfarms that have a handling unit by keeping cows as close to the pens as possible.
2 Get cows used to handling
As cows have to be brought in for inseminating, they need to be used to regular handling. To familiarise cows with regular handling, grazing animals in a paddock systems will train them to follow the farmer as they move to fresh grass.
Feeding a small quantity of meal every day will also help to settle cows and familiarise them with handling.
Ideally, feeding meals in a trough set up on a central laneway or in the handling unit will make it much easier to bring cows in for inseminating.
3 Separating cows at grass
Cows that are stressed are unlikely to hold to AI. So rather than trying to split cows in the field, bring the group into the handling unit together.
Cows will not like being separated from their calf, so sorting in the handling pen is safer for the farmer. However, if the cows you want to AI are standing next to the gateway, by all means just bring these animals in for inseminating.
Setting up electric wires to form temporary laneways will help to move cows toward the handling pen. You might need to run two wires to keep calves under control.
Make the laneway wide enough for two cows standing abreast to cut down on animals turning to face the opposite direction. Once cows are moving, keep them moving towards the pen.
4 Heat detecting
Make use of heat detection aids. They can be as inexpensive as tail paint or at the opposite end of the spectrum, there are high-tech aids that send an alert to smartphones. Teaser bulls also work well.
Just because you are using an aid, do not skimp on manual heat detection. Watch cows at least three times daily, with each period lasting at least 20 minutes.
The best time to watch cows is early morning and late evening. Allow for a five- to 10-minute period to let animal settle into their normal routine from when you arrive in the field.
A synchronisation programme can bring all cows into heat over a short time frame, meaning you can condense inseminations over one or two days.
With fixed-time AI, the programme can be planned to allow all inseminations to occur on a set day. This is more practical for farmers working off farm. It also means holidays can be planned for calving time.
5 When to AI
Cows can vary in the duration of standing heat. But for the vast majority of cases, work to the am:pm rule.
This means an animal observed in heat during the morning is inseminated that evening and vice versa.
Keep stress to a minimum, which means loading the animal into the headlocking gate only when the technician is on farm.
Once the cow has been inseminated, return the cow to the main group as quickly as possible.
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