The HerdPlus dairy calving statistics from the Irish Cattle Breeders Federation (ICBF) have been released for 2021.
The statistics are based on data collected from 14,234 dairy herds.
Calving statistics
The figures, compared to 2020, show improvements in some areas and a slight disimprovement in other areas.
ICBF notied that: “The trends indicate large variation between herds that are achieving exceptional fertility performance (top 10%) for each of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), to those that are achieving below average performance (bottom 10%).”
Calving interval
The figures show that the national calving interval has increased by one day to 388 days, from 387 days in 2020.
The calving interval figure has been stuck between 387 days and 390 days since 2016. The overall trend is positive, with this figure reducing from 396 days from 2012.
The top 10% of herds have a calving interval of 364 days, which is one day better than the industry target of 365 days.
The bottom 10% of herds have a calving interval of 422 days, 57 days behind the industry target.
Six-week calving rate
An area that has improved compared to 2020 is the average six-week calving rate, which has gone from 65% to 67% in 2021.
This figure has seen improvement across the board with the top 10% of herds going from 86% in 2020 to 87% in 2021.
The bottom top 10% of herds have also seen improvement in this figure, going from 36% to 40%.
Heifers
A key target for the dairy herd has been achieving 100% of heifers calved between 22 and 26 months of age.
The average currently being achieved is 74%, an improvement from last year when the figure was 71%.
The top 10% of herds are achieving the figure of 100% of heifers calved between 22 and 26 months of age.
While the bottom top 10% of herds are only achieving 13%, this is still an increase of 1% from 2020 when the figure was 12%.
To achieve the target of 100% of heifers calving between 22 and 26 months, they need to be achieving target weights.
If your heifers are not achieving their target weights, they need to be offered preventative grazing and concentrates.