Visited a dairy farmer in County Cork where we conducted a pre-breed scan. He informed me that in 2009 he had 49 heifer calves who survived a severe outbreak of coccidiosis. Only 23 of these animals have survived into their second lactation. Of the 23 scanned, 8 had severe reproductive problems supporting my contention that […]
Read MoreOn a farm in County Clare, where a pedigree stock bull was not allowed to enter a sale because testicle size was considered too small. He would be allowed to be certified if he put a number of heifers in calf. On a previous visit we scanned heifers as reproductively sound, these were introduced to […]
Read MoreOn calls in Kerry where cattle have been housed because of the extremely poor weather conditions. Heavy rain has left land with heavy soils being waterlogged. This leaves the farmers with no option but to bring cows back indoors. This is extremely detrimental to milk production and the stress associated with same to reproductive performance. […]
Read MoreOn a farm visit outside in County Down a dairy farmer with 350 cows informed me that low milk protein and high somatic cell count were costing his business 13,000 pound sterling a month. Poor silage quality, with poor transition management pre calving and post calving are the main cost factors.
Read MoreVisited a farm where a client presented a sucker herd, that had an autumn calving programme for suckler cows, and a spring calving programme for dairy cows. Reproductive performance of the suckler herd of 20 cows and 2 heifers was excellent, while that in the dairy herd was very poor. The client informed me that […]
Read MoreA client had 40 heifers which had provided 2 groups in the 1 pen. Each pen had a stock bull which were routinely switched. In 1 pen 90% of the heifers were pregnant while in the other pen less than 30% were pregnant. How could this be explained, in a subfertile group 1 heifer was […]
Read MoreVisited a sucker farmer in County Clare who presented 40 solar cows for scanning. Over 90% of the cows were pregnant over an 80 day breeding window. These cows are excellent mothers with cross suckling a common feature. These cows may however, lose significant body condition score dropping from 3 1/2 to 2 in the […]
Read MoreOn farm visit in Clare a significant number of cows presented greater than 3 weeks calved with uterine infections, none of these cows were cycling. This feature is associated with poor dry cow management. Farmers want to avoid the impact of calving difficulty with oversized calves. Cows in this situation are semi-starved in the last […]
Read MoreFocus on reproduction now for Spring calving in 2013. Heat detection dependent on fit cows. Supplement grass based diets with minerals, vitamins and concentrates to meet demands of milk production and requirements for normal oestrus cycles. If you have not used our prebreed reproductive assessment of your dairy herd, it is now time to scan […]
Read MoreArticle by Dr. Dan Ryan published in the Farming Independent, 24th January 2012. Mild weather, high grass growth rates and a positive outlook for the dairy industry all lend to an upbeat mood among dairy farmers. Autumn breeding programmes are now at week seven, while spring-calving programmes are just about to begin. The contrast in […]
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