Just five years after having a calving season spanning 10 months of the year, a Co. Cavan dairy farm family has transformed its busiest season into just 11-weeks of spring calving.
Father and sons Philip, Andrew and Aodhagon Smith from Crossdoney in Co. Cavan outlined their process at a recent Lakeland Dairies summer farm walk.
The newly established 11-week breeding season has greatly reduced labour pressures for the family, offering more time and resources to invest in quality genetics as well as upgrading the farm.
Speaking to those in attendance, Andrew said he made a clear decision to cut down on the calving season to benefit both him and the farm.
“I would have had no interest calving cows and feeding calves in the back end of the year. It didn’t all happen overnight though. We made the decision in 2019, but 2022 was the first year of complete spring calving.
“We are happy with the changes made, it has simplified the whole thing, with less batches of heifers and calves. I would still like to tighten up my six-week submission rate to 85% to 90% though,” he said.
Culling policy on Cavan dairy farm
The Cavan dairy farm family took a hard line on the breeding policy in order to turn to a tight spring-calving season.
They sold batches of cows as well as culling all late-calving and lower fertility cows and those with lower fat and protein percentages.
They then replaced them with 52 high quality heifers in 2019, restructuring the breeding pattern, before purchasing a further 25 heifers in 2020.
When asked by a farmer in attendance if there was any sentimentality when taking such a selling and culling policy, Andrew said: “I culled all the empties those years, even the good ones. If they weren’t in calf, they weren’t kept.”
Breeding for success
In tandem, the Smiths focused on improving the future herd genetics, with the selection of high Economic Breeding Index (EBI) artificial insemination (AI) straws and heifers with increased fertility, fat and protein percentages.
The Smiths also introduced 40 straws of sexed semen to the herd this year, with plans to increase this figure next year.
As a result of investing in the correct genetics, their average EBI in 2022 sat at over €180, compared to the current national average at €150.
Milk solids on the farm also saw an increase, up from 450kg/cow in 2018, to 490kg/cow in 2022. This is worth approximately €200 extra, per cow per year, totalling an overall gain of approximately €44,000 for the Smiths.
Combining tools, the Smiths have utilised EBI and milk recording, and adopted technical advice to steer their breeding decisions and calving pattern over the last five years.
“It’s going where I want it to go and hopefully when we hit 500kg, we will go further. Go out and invest in the best genetics you can get. Don’t be afraid to do it. It will pay off,” Smith concluded.