In suckler herds that predominantly calve during February and March, consider pregnancy scanning cows now.

With cows scanned, barren animals can be offloaded, delivering multiple benefits for the farm business.

First off, selling empty cows in September will generate cashflow. Secondly, selling before the end of the month will beat the autumn surge in cull cows coming from the dairy sector, which should help improve sale price.

Good condition

Thirdly, cows are likely to be in good body condition, which will make them an easy sell. This may not be the case in late autumn.

Finally, scanning now and offloading empty cows will ease the demand for grass during autumn, potentially extending the grazing season for other cows and weanlings or saving on silage at housing time.

Early spring-calving cows should be long settled in-calf at this stage and scanning technicians can accurately pick up pregnancies from 40 days from a successful service. This should cover scanning those animals that run into April also.

'Export slurry and reduce need for leasing or sacrificing cow numbers' - Dempsey

Beef prices: drop in British supplies boosts Irish quotes

Scanning time for spring-calving suckler herds

Suckler farmers operating early spring-calving herds should consider scanning animals now to determine which animals are in-calf for next year. Empty cows should be offloaded at the first chance.