Anxiety over the number of cows returning to heat led to a series of actions on the Tullamore sheep and beef farm this week.

To take pressure off stock bulls, 81 cows/heifers out of a possible 125 were served to AI in the first three weeks of the breeding season which started on 1 May. Stock bulls were turned out on 23 May after three weeks of AI but, last week, farm manager Ger O’Dwyer noticed a number of unusual repeats to a Limousin stock bull that was running with one group of cows.

In total, there are three stock bulls running with three groups of breeding cows/heifers (4,643 and 36 in each group). A September 2015-born Limousin (20 months), a January 2016-born Limousin (16 months) and a January 2016-born Aberdeen Angus (16 months).

Five repeats to one of the bulls raised the alarm last week and the decision was taken to fertility-test both bulls. Both bulls returned poor results for semen motility and morphology. Both were semen tested prior to purchase and had passed the pre-sale checks on scrotal circumference and fertility tests. One bull had served 19 cows in the last four weeks and the other bull had served 21 cows over the past four weeks.

The vet advised to stand the bulls off for five days and get them semen-tested again to see if the result changed. In the meantime, the two groups of cows were joined together and the Aberdeen Angus bull was put out with this large combined group. The third group of cows and heifers that were originally with the Angus bull were artificially inseminated to standing heat over that period.

The bulls were blood-sampled and tests came back clear for Johne’s disease, BVD and IBR; they are also OK for mineral status.

The two bulls were semen tested again last Wednesday and the September 2015-born bull has tested fertile (four out of five), while the January 2016-born bull returned another poor fertility test. The bull is insured under the Irish Limousin Cattle Society fertility insurance scheme and this is currently being followed up on.

Counting the damage

Fifty-three out of a possible 81 cows served were in calf

To establish the extent of the fertility challenge in the herd, a pregnancy scan was carried out last Thursday on the cows that were served to AI in the first three weeks of breeding. The results were good. Fifty-three out of a possible 81 cows served were in calf – a conception rate to first service of 65%.

Those cows served by the stock bulls and over 30 days in calf were also scanned. Eight cows were scanned in calf to the September 2016-born bull while no cows were scanned in calf to the Jan 2016-born bull.

One clear message from what has happened over the past two weeks is the importance of keeping accurate records during the breeding season. Without these records and the vigilance of farm manager Ger O’Dwyer, the 2017 breeding season could have ended very badly. The problem with the stock bulls was picked up early and has hopefully limited the damage on the calving spread in spring 2018. The decision to use AI for the first three weeks to take the pressure off the stock bulls has paid real dividends.

The likely scenario is that the 19 cows that the poor-fertility bull served will drop back three weeks but will hopefully hold to their third cycle with no issues. We will have more cows in-calf to the Aberdeen Angus bull than originally anticipated. The biggest loss to the business is that this subset of cows will be later calving next spring and closer to falling out of a spring-calving setup and, of course, the lost output in terms of calf growth rate next February and March. The next pregnancy scan will inform us more.

We will remain vigilant and keep recording heats to avoid any further issues. At the moment, the Aberdeen Angus bull is still running with the big group and the Limousin bull is with the small group of cows. These bulls will be rotated next week. The young bull that has tested twice with poor fertility has been stood down indefinitely and cannot be depended on.

Grass growth

Grass growth has dropped over the past week with 46kg of growth being recorded. Demand is still quite high running at 57kg/DM/ha. The reason for the high demand is the level of reseeding that has taken place on the farm over the past two months. This demand will drop back as reseeded paddocks start to come back into the rotation next week.

Eighty-five bales of silage have been taken out as surplus grass and three paddocks have been topped to maintain grass quality. Cows are spending two to three days in each paddock, with each paddock being split to increase grass utilisation.

Since cows have been joined together in one big group, there is no longer a requirement to split paddocks. Grazing paddocks are currently getting 20 units of CAN after each grazing. Any paddock that has silage removed gets two bags of 18:6:12/acre. Forty-seven acres of first-cut silage were cut on 17 June. This was delayed by about 10 days due to unsuitable weather conditions. Ten acres of Maris Kestrel kale was sown on 10 June and is up and doing well. It will get three bags/acre of CAN this week. This will be grazed by late calving cows from October onwards.

Calf performance

Calves were weighed on 1 June. The average date of birth of all calves weighed in the herd is 9 March 2017. Male calves weighed 155kg and have gained 1.32kg/day since birth and female calves weighed 142kg and have gained 1.28kg/day/since birth. Calves have started to creep graze underneath the electric fence especially in the final stages of each paddock being grazed. So far, calves have received two shots of Tribovax T clostridial vaccine. They have been faecal sampled twice on 12 and 29 June and both results have returned clear. This could be as a result of grazing uncontaminated reseeded pasture and land that was previously in tillage.

Male and female calves will be separated when the stock bulls are removed on 14 July. The 61 dairy calves are grazing a recently reseeded paddock and are currently eating 0.5kg/day of concentrates. These calves were also faecal sampled and have returned clear. These calves were weighed on 4 July and they weighed 114kg and have gained 0.7kg/day since birth. The heifer calves need to be 230kg or heavier on 1 November to be on target for finishing off grass in autumn 2018. They will be monitored closely for any signs of coughing as lungworm larvae may not have shown up in faecal samples.

A national open day will take place on Tullamore Farm on Tuesday 25 July where farm tours will take place from 1pm to 7pm and areas such as infrastructural investment, grassland management, breeding and farm performance figures will be covered. A forum discussion will take place in the yard area at 4pm where leading industry figures will debate the future of the Irish beef industry. It will be the first time that the farm has been opened up to the public and promises to be an interesting and informative event.

Car parking and catering facilities will be provided. Trade stands will also be present. Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

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