The four areas affecting calving rate are genetics, breeding management (heat detection, etc), nutrition and animal health.
Let’s leave genetics and breeding management aside and assume that we’re breeding a high-fertility cow and are implementing all the necessary heat detection methods on our farms.
Cows should be tailpainted now to identify the non-cyclers.
The first thing we need to look at is the nutrition of the cow. Poor nutrition is often blamed for causing poor fertility in herds.
To get the highest conception rates possible, cows need to be on a rising plane of nutrition and be in a state where they are gaining condition.
Limiting factor
Energy is the most limiting factor in a cow’s diet at this time of year. It’s important to make sure the cow’s energy requirement is being met or else this will have a negative impact on her body condition score (BCS) and fertility.
A cow will need energy for maintenance and milk production and weight gain. Presume a herd of cows are producing 26l/cow/day at the moment. This means there will be plenty of cows producing 30l-plus in the herd.
A cow producing 30l of milk a day needs to be getting 19 UFL in her diet to cover maintenance and milk production. This breaks down as six UFL for maintenance and they need 0.44 UFL per litre of milk produced.
It is important to look at your grass allocation to ensure you are allocating the required amount
Grass is generally high in energy and 1kg of spring grass usually equals one UFL. A kilo of good concentrates is generally a little less than one UFL at 0.95 UFL.
One kilo of silage DM can range from 0.76 UFL for 68% DMD silage to up to 0.81 UFL for 76% DMD silage, but the only way to know for sure is a silage test.
So a cow grazing 17kg of good-quality grass and getting 2kg of concentrates in the parlour will be getting sufficient energy to support 30 litres of milk and maintain condition.
It is important to look at your grass allocation to ensure you are allocating the required amount of high-quality grass on a daily basis.
Poorly grazed out paddocks from the first rotation will have dead material at the base in the second rotation. This will have a lower energy content and forcing cow to graze these down can really reduce the energy intake during the breeding season.
This is why focusing on achieve good residuals of 4cm or less in your first and second rotations is so important.
Animal health
Cow health is the next biggest factor affecting fertility on farms. These are thin cows, problem cows and lame cows.
When it comes to thin cows, the first question you have to ask yourself is why a cow is thin, as there is always a reason. The most common two reasons are they are either lame or high yielders and their energy requirement is not being met.
So these high-yielding cows in poor condition will require extra energy for weight gain. However, feeding these cows extra concentrates at this time of year will mostly just lead to increased milk yield without solving the BCS problem.
The simple solution for these cows is to put them on once-a-day (OAD) milking for a period, reducing their energy requirement and helping them gain condition. These cows should go on OAD until they come in heat.
Cows that become lame should be looked at straight away
Lame cows will lose condition very quickly at this time of year and will stop cycling or have significantly lower conception rates.
Cows that become lame should be looked at straight away. This gives cows time to recover and gain back any lost condition before the breeding season kicks off.
Compact calving is all about compact breeding.
Problem cows are those that have had retained cleanings, had difficult calvings or any cow that may have had a metabolic disorder such as milk fever, ketosis or displaced abomasum after calving.
Ideally, all these cows should be scanned to make sure they are cycling or to identify any that may need intervention.
Cows that have had a difficult calving or that retained cleanings may have metritis, which is an illness with a foul-smelling vaginal discharge occurring within the three weeks after calving.
These cows need to be looked at by a vet, who may administer antibiotics or anti-inflammatories as part of any treatment.
Pre- breeding heat detection three weeks before the start of the breeding season will allow you to identify any cows that are not cycling which should also be scanned.
Adequate minerals and trace elements are essential for cows to achieve and maintain pregnancy. Animals in poor mineral status may be sub-fertile. The main deficiencies are phosphorus, cooper, selenium, iodine and zinc.
The vast majority of these minerals are usually provided for in grass and/or concentrates, but, in some cases, there may be deficiencies and these should be addressed.
A blood sample can be taken and pooled from around 10% of cows in the herd and from a spread of cows from different lactations to check the herd’s mineral status.
Maiden heifers that might be going to hungrier land may also benefit from mineral supplementation, as on low-fertility soils the amount of minerals may not be as readily available.
These minerals can be delivered through concentrate, the water, in a bolus or by an injection. There is very little response to feeding minerals beyond requirement, so it is worth identify the mineral status of the herd first.
The six-week calving rate has a big bearing on profitability. There is sufficient energy in grass for high levels of milk yield, maintenance and weight gain.Identify and treat problem cows now.Check the mineral status of cows and heifers prior to calving. Read more
Ways of increasing the six-week calving rate
Building the picture of heat detection.
The four areas affecting calving rate are genetics, breeding management (heat detection, etc), nutrition and animal health.
Let’s leave genetics and breeding management aside and assume that we’re breeding a high-fertility cow and are implementing all the necessary heat detection methods on our farms.
Cows should be tailpainted now to identify the non-cyclers.
The first thing we need to look at is the nutrition of the cow. Poor nutrition is often blamed for causing poor fertility in herds.
To get the highest conception rates possible, cows need to be on a rising plane of nutrition and be in a state where they are gaining condition.
Limiting factor
Energy is the most limiting factor in a cow’s diet at this time of year. It’s important to make sure the cow’s energy requirement is being met or else this will have a negative impact on her body condition score (BCS) and fertility.
A cow will need energy for maintenance and milk production and weight gain. Presume a herd of cows are producing 26l/cow/day at the moment. This means there will be plenty of cows producing 30l-plus in the herd.
A cow producing 30l of milk a day needs to be getting 19 UFL in her diet to cover maintenance and milk production. This breaks down as six UFL for maintenance and they need 0.44 UFL per litre of milk produced.
It is important to look at your grass allocation to ensure you are allocating the required amount
Grass is generally high in energy and 1kg of spring grass usually equals one UFL. A kilo of good concentrates is generally a little less than one UFL at 0.95 UFL.
One kilo of silage DM can range from 0.76 UFL for 68% DMD silage to up to 0.81 UFL for 76% DMD silage, but the only way to know for sure is a silage test.
So a cow grazing 17kg of good-quality grass and getting 2kg of concentrates in the parlour will be getting sufficient energy to support 30 litres of milk and maintain condition.
It is important to look at your grass allocation to ensure you are allocating the required amount of high-quality grass on a daily basis.
Poorly grazed out paddocks from the first rotation will have dead material at the base in the second rotation. This will have a lower energy content and forcing cow to graze these down can really reduce the energy intake during the breeding season.
This is why focusing on achieve good residuals of 4cm or less in your first and second rotations is so important.
Animal health
Cow health is the next biggest factor affecting fertility on farms. These are thin cows, problem cows and lame cows.
When it comes to thin cows, the first question you have to ask yourself is why a cow is thin, as there is always a reason. The most common two reasons are they are either lame or high yielders and their energy requirement is not being met.
So these high-yielding cows in poor condition will require extra energy for weight gain. However, feeding these cows extra concentrates at this time of year will mostly just lead to increased milk yield without solving the BCS problem.
The simple solution for these cows is to put them on once-a-day (OAD) milking for a period, reducing their energy requirement and helping them gain condition. These cows should go on OAD until they come in heat.
Cows that become lame should be looked at straight away
Lame cows will lose condition very quickly at this time of year and will stop cycling or have significantly lower conception rates.
Cows that become lame should be looked at straight away. This gives cows time to recover and gain back any lost condition before the breeding season kicks off.
Compact calving is all about compact breeding.
Problem cows are those that have had retained cleanings, had difficult calvings or any cow that may have had a metabolic disorder such as milk fever, ketosis or displaced abomasum after calving.
Ideally, all these cows should be scanned to make sure they are cycling or to identify any that may need intervention.
Cows that have had a difficult calving or that retained cleanings may have metritis, which is an illness with a foul-smelling vaginal discharge occurring within the three weeks after calving.
These cows need to be looked at by a vet, who may administer antibiotics or anti-inflammatories as part of any treatment.
Pre- breeding heat detection three weeks before the start of the breeding season will allow you to identify any cows that are not cycling which should also be scanned.
Adequate minerals and trace elements are essential for cows to achieve and maintain pregnancy. Animals in poor mineral status may be sub-fertile. The main deficiencies are phosphorus, cooper, selenium, iodine and zinc.
The vast majority of these minerals are usually provided for in grass and/or concentrates, but, in some cases, there may be deficiencies and these should be addressed.
A blood sample can be taken and pooled from around 10% of cows in the herd and from a spread of cows from different lactations to check the herd’s mineral status.
Maiden heifers that might be going to hungrier land may also benefit from mineral supplementation, as on low-fertility soils the amount of minerals may not be as readily available.
These minerals can be delivered through concentrate, the water, in a bolus or by an injection. There is very little response to feeding minerals beyond requirement, so it is worth identify the mineral status of the herd first.
The six-week calving rate has a big bearing on profitability. There is sufficient energy in grass for high levels of milk yield, maintenance and weight gain.Identify and treat problem cows now.Check the mineral status of cows and heifers prior to calving. Read more
Ways of increasing the six-week calving rate
Building the picture of heat detection.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: