The Partners in Reproduction Series is a collaboration between MSD Animal Health and Agriland Media Group.
In the third and final part of the series, ruminant veterinary manager with MSD Animal Health, Eleanor Brady, spoke with Dennis Howard of Munster Bovine.
This three-part video series will cover a number of topics focused around the breeding season, including: pre-breeding management, selecting the most suitable cows for sexed semen, synchronisation protocols and using technology for optimum fertility performance.
Breeding
Howard said that the farm is typical of what is trending on farms nowadays. 250 spring-calving cows are being milked on two blocks of land.
“A lot of sexed semen, with most of the heifer born to sexed semen and very little dairy bull calves. The other big trend is a pile of beef calves.”
Sexed semen
The use of sexed semen has increased rapidly on Irish dairy farms, with Howard saying the it had been doubling year-on-year for the last number of years, with a 70% growth in 2023.
“The trend is that more and more people are using sexed semen and in general the feedback has been good, with it performing well on farms.
“Some of the data coming out of ICBF [Irish Cattle Breeding Federation] says that it is almost on par with conventional semen – but we are not comparing like with like there, the odds are probably stacked in sexed semen favour.”
Howard says that it is important that farmers are aware that it is a different product compared to conventional semen, with less sperm in each straw – 15 million for conventional vs four million for sexed.
Going through the sexing process also means that the product is more fragile and thus will not last as long inside the cow.
He said with that in mind, we are trying to stack the odds in favour of the sexed semen, because it is expensive and we want to get the best result we can.
“Part of that is selecting the most fertile cows, selecting cows that are calved long enough, had no issues at calving, and the next thing is heat detection to ensure they are actually in heat to get the timing right,” he said.
Continuing, Howard said: “We need to be more precious, we need to ensure that the cow is in heat, if we have any doubt use a conventional straw.
“It is not as viable and won’t last as long inside the cow, we don’t want to go too early in the heat.”
He explained that with conventional semen serving the cow any time between standing heat and up to 12 hours afterwards is ok for conventional semen.
When using sexed semen, you want to ensure that cows are in the second half of the heat, so the cows have actually gone off heat.
The reason for serving cows later into the heat is due to capacitation, with this process already having occurred in the lab.
While for conventional semen this takes around 10 hours to happen inside the cow.
Technology
Accurate heat detection is vital for the use of sexed semen in cows, whether that is tail paint, scratch cards or monitoring technology, according to Howard.
SenseHub Dairy Monitoring Technology, is described by ruminant veterinary manager with MSD Animal Health, Eleanor Brady as “another set of eyes”.
It offers farmers a breeding window to ensure accurate insemination timing with sexed conventional semen.
Howards said that anything that increases the accuracy, helps you to avoid missing cows in heat, and increases submission rates is going to have a positive impact on conception rates and fertility performance.
Synchronisation
The use of synchronisation programmes is also growing, along with the use of sexed semen on dairy farms.
The programmes are no longer just used for treating cows that are not cycling, but are increasingly more popular for fixed time artificial insemination (AI).
Howard said that it has become popular when breeding heifers, with heifers often on out farms and it being difficult to manage for heat detection.
“The use of a fixed timed AI programme allows all the reactive work of heat detection and drafting to become planned,” he said.
He highlighted the importance of consulting with your vet to get a programme that suits your farm and to also communicating with the AI technician.
Howard said that it is vital that there is enough help on the day, the crush is kept loaded and that heifers are divided based on the bull they are being served too.
The use of a programme helps to get cows in calf early in the breeding season and ensures that the heifers that repeat will do so 18-24 days after they served.
“If everything is followed exactly and the planning and facilities are good you can get very good, results at the end of it,” he added.