Taking blood samples from a number of cows within your herd is a good way to determine their mineral status ahead of breeding.
Minerals play an important role on farms, with farmers very aware of the importance of feeding minerals pre-calving to reduce issues around calving.
They are also important for ensuring that cows are in a good position to go in calf during the breeding season.
Understanding the mineral status of your cows is vital in order to get a picture of what potential supplementation is needed.
Although supplying cows with minerals can often be required, there is also times where minerals could be in an over supply or are being supplied when they are not required.
Too little of one mineral or too much of another could result in that cow failing to conceive and possibly increase empty rates within the herd.
Mineral status
When taking blood samples, they should be completed about three weeks prior to the start of breeding, as this allows for any mineral issues to be dealt with before it all kicks off.
With farmers trying to increase fertility levels in their herds and achieve more compact calving patterns, checking the mineral status of cows will be increasingly more important.
To achieve the best fertility and monitor cow health, farmers potentially should be looking at using blood tests more regularly on farms.
To get the most accurate results, cows need to be tested around four times/year for a number of years to determine patterns within the herd.
Ideally, you should vary the age and lactation of the cows you select for blood sampling to get as accurate of a picture as possible.
Breeding
Discuss with your vet whether or not this would be worthwhile, and when the samples should be taken to ensure results can be acted on.
The whole point of completing this test, is that you can act on it and get cows in the right mineral status before breeding starts.
The other areas such as nutrition and body condition score (BCS) are also vital to ensure that cows are in a best possible condition for breeding.