Busting the myths around earlier calving

Only 24% of suckler-bred heifers calve at 22-26 months nationally. In the dairy sector, this calving figure stands at 75%, according to Teagasc.

Teagasc is currently hosting a series of workshops nationwide with the aim of providing information to farmers on management practices and the benefits of calving suckler heifers at 24 months of age.

Agriland was in attendance at one of the events, which took place at Ballyhaise Agricultural College in Co. Cavan on Wednesday, (November 2).

It was outlined at the event that calving heifers at two years of age “significantly increases” the net margin/suckler cow compared to calving at 30-36 months of age.

Farmers also heard that reducing the age at which heifers calve is also one of the most efficient ways to reduce carbon emissions from the suckler herd.

The topics covered at the workshops include:

• Why calve at two years of age;
• Busting the myths around earlier calving;
• Target weight gains and how they can be achieved;
• Heifer health management;
• Affordable synchronisation options for heifers;
• Selecting the right sires for use on heifers.

Some of the farmers in attendance at the event outlined various issues they were finding with getting heifers in-calf.

Teagasc’s beef specialist Aidan Murray listened to these issues and offered possible solutions.

Common myths

Some of the main reasons suckler farmers give for not calving heifers at 24 months were outlined in the information booklet as follows:

‘Sure you will stunt the heifer and she will be no good for anything’

ICBF statistics from 131,000 sucklers born in 2011 show that this is not the case.

In fact, the heifers that calved at two years of age grew to be heavier than those calved at 31-35 months.

‘The heifer will go in-calf the first time, but she won’t go back in calf again’

From the same set of heifers, 82% that calved at 24 months went back in-calf the second time, in comparison to 86% of the heifers that calved at over three years of age.

‘The heifer will be too small and too hard to calve’

All first-time calvers have the potential to need assistance at calving. 43% of heifers calved at 36 months or over needed assistance, which only went to 50% of the 24-month-old heifers.

Bull selection is of utmost importance and the use of an easy-calving artificial insemination (Al) bull should be considered.

It was outlined that it is very hard to have a good bull on mature cows and use the bull on your heifers – at any age.

Survivability

The ICBF data showed that 39% of the heifers which calved at two years of age reached their fifth parity in comparison to only 4% of the heifers calved at 31 -35 months and 0% of the heifers calved at over three years of age.

Performance targets

At the event it was outlined that successfully calving heifers at 24 months of age requires careful management from early stages to ensure weight targets are being met and the heifer is heavy enough to be served at 14-15 months of age.

The table below shows the performance targets required for calving heifers at 24 months:

According to Teagasc, research at Grange has shown that reducing the age at first calving from three years to two years can cut the carbon footprint on a farm by 12%.

This is because the cow calving at 24 months produces more output over her lifetime.

Teagasc Grange research has also shown that on a 50-cow suckler herd with a 20% replacement rate, each additional month calving is delayed costs €490-50/heifer/month.

However, these costings are based on 2018 input costs so an additional 20% can be added to these costs for 2022.