moleary1 | ReproDoc Ltd.

High Somatic Cell Count can cause both severe mental health stress and financial stress in dairy herd

On a call in Co Clare, visiting a client with small dairy herd of 35 cows where he informed me that in the previous 20 years, he never had problem with cell count. Last year, he had to cull 16 cows from the dairy herd because of high somatic cell count. This created a situation […]

Identifying twins in cows proves very beneficial

On a farm visit to Flan Enright in Ballynacally Co Clare. Flan informed me that we had identified 6 cows carrying twins in his herd of 40 suckler cows last year. All cows carrying twins had twins. The fact that he used ScanSmart from ReproDoc ensured that he had accurate aging of pregnancies and accurate […]

Castration of bulls at average 13 months of age reaps the rewards for Suckler farmers

During the autumn of 2019 bull beef was not the flavour of the month. Farmers were faced with a situation where they could not get bulls slaughtered. An enterprising farmer in Co Clare informed that had 22 angus crossbred beef bulls averaging 13 months of age, faced with a situation that he couldn’t not get […]

Rolled oats in dry cow transition period works wonders with first calvers in the suckler herd.

Visiting a farm close to Conor Pass on the Dingle Peninsula for the past number of years revealed that a high % of first calvers failed to go back in calve after the first calving. ScanSmart technology revealed why this occurred and it was not associated with fertility of the stock bull running with them […]

Summer mastitis in suckler cows

With clients on the Dingle Peninsula, one of the primary reasons for culling cows on this farm is related to summer mastitis in their suckler cows last summer. A major problem & very difficult too content with is the preventative measures such as fly deterrence but success based on number of cows with mastitis was […]

€5000 penalties for breaches of slurry spreading in the close season

Two slurry spreading contractors & two farmers have been issued with €5000 fines each for spreading slurry in the close season. This is a warning to farmers that spreading slurry during the close season will not be tolerated. With land currently saturated because of persisted heavy rain for the past number of months, run-off from […]

Identical twins are quite rare

This set of identical twins were born on the farm of Alan & John Dwyer near Dundrum Co Tipperary today. They were born 3 weeks prematurely but thankfully are alive and well. SmartScan technology from ReproDoc identified this set of identical twins in early pregnancy. A management programme was put in place to aid survival. […]

The price of stock bulls is increasing this year

On farm visits in Co. Limerick with a client who deals with cattle revealed that the price of stock bulls will increase this year over last year. The primary reasons are associated with the insufficient stock bull power with increased herd size. Stock bulls are at increased injury risk with the extra work demanded of […]

Is in excess of €400/acre for long term leasing for dairy sustainable?

On calls near Cork city today revealed that a new entrant to dairy paying in excess of €400/acre for long term lease with entry into dairy. This begs the question can this type of investment be economically viable with current & future projections for milk price. This type of investment with additionally costs for milking […]

Use of sex semen and ov-synch programmes for maiden heifers

With animals confined indoors farmers wanting to use Ai in maiden heifers have been encouraged by Ai Companies to consider the use of ov-synch programmes in conjunction with sex semen for their maiden heifers. Indeed, these maiden heifers may be housed indoors on outside farms where the ability to spend time watching heifers for heat […]