Scanning cows in Carlingford, Co. Louth, reveals the shortest calving to pregnancy interval ever recorded. We have a system which incorporates a passport for every animal. The system provides me with information pertaining to days calved and days served and parity of the animal. In a case study on a farm in Carlingford, a Simmental […]
Read MoreScanned a group of maiden heifers in Co. Kerry, where temperament was poor in heifers. It was interesting to note that the most temperamental animal was in a pre-pubertal state, having reached 20 months of age. My recommendation in this case was to cull the animal in question. As the trait of delayed puberty associated […]
Read MoreTraveling from Fermoy into Co. Waterford, the river Bride bursts its banks rich farmland and crops of maize are flooded. This can cause devastation for the farms in question and indeed feed shortages. Heavy rain and gale force winds overnight, has now left ground saturated. Poaching of grazed pastures will become a problem if this […]
Read MoreCow scanning on farms at this stage of the production cycle, in spring calving herds, reveals that up to 10% of cows submitted for A.I. and presented at the incorrect stage of the estrous cycle. Cow scanning as shown, introduces either uterine infections or embryonic death. The problem is exacerbated on those farms attempting to achieve […]
Read MoreScanned a herd of 160 dairy cows in County Down. It is a father and son farming operation. The current cost of milk production is 25.1 pence per litre. They are currently getting 23.1 pence per litre. This means single farm payment is the sole profit in the business and it is being eroded by […]
Read MoreOn farm visits to County Down, a client informed me that he is waiting to cut his 2nd round of silage, while his neighbour already had his cut. This is in stark contrast to a number of farms down South, where the first cut silage has already been taken up. However it will be a […]
Read MoreVisited a dairy farmer in County Waterford, this client presented 40 heifers who were exposed to a stock bull for 6 weeks. The heifers were on an outside farm and observed by the clients father. No activity was observed from either the stock bull or the maiden heifers. He wanted to introduce the stock bull […]
Read MoreVisited 2 dairy herds in County Antrim, where the incidence of lameness and poor body condition score was over 40%. Scanning of cows identified over 95% of those cows with chronic lameness. Both clients plan to separate the cows identified as reproductively compromised. These cows will be cared for properly over the next 4 weeks […]
Read MoreOn a farm visit in County Tyrone. A client presented suckler cows for estrous synchronization and pregnancy diagnosis. He had synchronized estrous for the purposes of using a fixed time A.I. Programme and then use a sweeper bull to catch the repeats. The pregnancy rate to fixed time A.I. was 18% this was explained by […]
Read MoreVisited a client in Armagh, who presents cows at 6 week intervals for sexing and heat detection in an A.I. Programme. The incidence of embryonic death was 30% in cows presumed pregnant in cows served between 25 and 50 days. It transpired that due to grazed grass shortages because of the cold spell in may, […]
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