We have reached day 24 of breeding in Clara with only 10 cows left to serve out of the 300 cows milking or just under 97% submitted for AI so far.

We have examined the cows not seen in heat by day 24 and while none were carrying any infections, three had cysts, four were under 50 days calved and the other three are either showing silent heats or missed.

We will give all of them another few days to show a heat. We might use Estrumate on the last few then to see if we can stimulate a heat before we finish AI in three weeks. We like to give them all one service with AI, either beef or dairy before the bulls go out for weeks seven to 10 of breeding.

Detection

The heats have been very strong and visible for the first three weeks.

Tail paint is our heat detection aid of choice and we have been using Red Tell Tail spray Paint from FIL.

The cows are drafted out every morning before milking, on the way into the collecting yard

It is a little bit expensive but when we are only using it for six weeks and we don’t go to any other expense, it’s easily. It reduces the mess around the parlour and does the job very well.

The cows are drafted out every morning before milking, on the way into the collecting yard. The cows are then served and put back in the collecting yard to be milked as normal with the minimum of disruption to their daily routine. This has worked very well for us for the last number of years with good submission and conception rates.

The only observation of cows for heats for the first three weeks is at drafting out in the morning but when the number of cows on heat slackens off this week, we will have to spend a bit more time in the paddock to make sure that none are missed. After this round, the bulls can keep an eye on them but hopefully they won’t be too busy.

Grass

Grass is growing well on farm for the last two weeks, without getting out of hand. We have 50ac or 20% of the milking platform closed for first-cut silage as well as another 100ac on the youngstock blocks.

We have made no bales yet but will probably have to take out some paddocks next week after the rain.

May will be a busy month off farm as well with European elections coming up quickly on 24 May

This should help to reset the residuals on these paddocks. We should get to pass a mower over the whole milking platform over the next two months, either for silage, bales, pre-mowing or topping.

May will be a busy month off farm as well with European elections coming up quickly on 24 May. It’s imperative at this time that we have a very strong Irish team representing us in Europe with Brexit still hanging around like a bad smell and CAP negotiations stalled because of it. We met most of the southern candidates in Kilkenny this week at an IFA meeting.

Some of the candidates were strong and would do an excellent job representing us and some, frankly, could do a lot of damage to Irish farming if elected. Hopefully everyone will take the time to study the candidates and make the right decision. They will be representing us through a crucial five years for the future of Irish agriculture.