The breeding season on farms is set to get underway across the country, with most farmers having their breeding plans in place.
As it does, it is important to remember the main reasons why we have a breeding season and what we are looking to achieve with it.
As mentioned, the majority of farmers have breeding plans in place, and it is important to ensure that these plans are resulting in the highest genetic gain possible.
The breeding of heifers to dairy sires is common practice for many dairy farmers, while for others, it remains a somewhat foreign idea.
Bulling heifers should be the best genetics on your farm and should be used to generate future replacements and milking stock.
Breeding season
The first aim of the breeding season is to get cows back in calf so they can produce milk for the following year.
Put simply, if a cow doesn’t go in calf she won’t be able to produce milk at the level required to remain viable in the herd.
The second aim of the breeding season is to improve the genetic profile of the herd, which is achieved by matching the females with the best genetics in the herd with the top bulls.
This, for most herds, involves increasing the kg of milk solids produced by each cow and reducing the calving interval to as close to 365 days as possible, thus improving fertility.
In order to obtain the quickest genetic gains within the herd the first animals that should be targeted are the replacement heifers.
Some farmers choose to run an Angus bull with their heifers, but all that is doing is slowing down the rate of genetic gain in the herd.
The animals that should be targeted for breeding are heifers and the top cows. All the other animals should be bred to beef.
Heifers
With sexed semen now playing a major role on many farms, this rate of genetic gain can be increased further.
The best genetics on your farm should not be wasted and obtaining a heifer from a heifer is going to result in major increases in the genetic potential of your herd.
Using synchronisation programmes on farms means that all the heifers can be served at the same time and thus they should calve around the same time.
As we nationally try to breed a more efficient cow, a simple measure that can be adopted on farm level is ensuring that we are using the best genetics to obtain replacements.