moleary1 | ReproDoc Ltd.

Scanning cows for foetal sexing

Visited a suckler farmer outside Midleton, Co.Cork. This client presented a group of suckler cows for scanning. He presented one group of 9 cows that were running with a yearling Hereford bull. They were all confirmed pregnant carrying male calves. The odds ratio of this happening is very low. It cannot be explained biologically.

Scanning weanling beef heifers prior to sale

Visited a suckler farmer outside Clogheen, Co. Tipperary. This client presented a group of weanling heifers to assess reproductive status prior to sale. It transpired that just 2 animals out of 15 were either cycling or in calf. Normally farmers would inject maiden heifers prior to sale. However, this approach is often wasteful and ineffective […]

The story of the cow which had four calves

Visited a client in Co. Tipperary. They told me that they had a neighbour with a cow that had four calves. A local veterinary surgeon from a practice nearby was involved in delivering what was thought at the time to be triplets. However, the farmer who was not present on the farm at the time, […]

Start to prepare your cows for the dry cow period

Dr Dan’s Weekly Diary up to September 17, 2012 The days are getting shorter which is evident in both the mornings and the evenings. It is now dark when we leave Fermoy each morning. Thankfully, temperatures are still high and rainfall is low for the week. There is still some spring wheat and barley to […]

€1200 to maintain a cow on a grass based dairy system

Profit Monitor system for Irish Dairy farms averaged a cost of €1200 to keep a cow for a year on a dairy farm in Ireland. With the cost of production at 24 cents and the cost of milk at 32cents each cent profit by 6000 litres, this makes little economic sense.

Acceptable rates in cows kept indoors

The wet weather in the months of June, July and August, resulted in many dairy and suckler farmers keeping their cattle indoors. They were pleasantly surprised at the 90% plus pregnancy rates achieved for a 15 week breeding period.

Calf Born Without Eyes

On call outside Ballyneety, Co. Limerick, where we previously scanned a cow carrying a heifer calf. The cow calved this week, and the calf was born without eyes. The farm manager jokingly said ‘How come when you were sexing the calf you did not look into the calves eyes’. The client is looking forward to […]

Plan winter diets for your dairy herd now

The Indian summer experienced in the first week of September brought all types of farm machinery out of the silence caused by the wet summer. It is now a case of salvaging forages, which should have been harvested in June. Unfortunately, the feed value of these silages will be poor. It required the full week […]

Prevalence of ragworth in the countryside has dramatically increased

On farm visits around the country one can not believe the amount of ragworth that is prevalent in the Countryside especially in the past month. Ragworth is a noxious weed/species. It is hard to believe that it is an illegal act to have this weed growing in pasture.

90% pregnancy rate with beneficial effects of routine drenching of cows for stomach and liver fluke

On a farm visit outside Dingle, Co. Kerry where the pregnancy rate was 90% for a 14 week breeding period. This was in stark contrast to last years results with only 70% pregnant for the same period. Milk analysis revealed a high infestation of stomach and liver fluke with routine drenching taking place.

Testimonials

ReproDoc provide us with reproductive assessment of our cows prior to breeding – early non-pregnancy diagnosis, assessment of cows with reproductive problems, accurate ageing of pregnancies in particular where stock bulls are used towards the latter half of the breeding programmes and the sexing of pregnancies which is used from management of cows prior to calving to avoid calving difficulty. All scans are accurate which is most important. Prior to using Reprodoc, I had other men in scanning and did not get this accuracy which was a disaster.

Maurice Harty