As the breeding draws closer, it is important that dairy farmers begin to record heats and take action on cows that are not cycling.
With the start of the breeding season now around three weeks away, the recording of heats should begin on farms.
Knowing which cows are cycling is important before the planned start of mating date.
Three weeks before you plan to start mating, heat detection should begin to detect cows that are not cycling or having a heat.
Recording heats
On many farms, cows are still in the shed, which can make it a little more difficult to detect cows in heat and there could potentially be an increased number of silent heats.
Some farms have installed heat detection systems, which should be able to do a lot of the work for you in terms of recording heats and picking up cows with issues.
A lot of herds do not have the aid of technology and will have to use some of the old reliable methods for heat detection.
All cows in the herd should be tail painted and those that have had the tail paint removed by other cows jumping on them should be noted.
An example of a process used on many farms, is tail painting cows with one colour, such as blue, after which any cows that had a bull remove their tail paint are then painted green.
Any cows that haven’t cycled after three weeks will still have blue tail paint and will need to be checked by a vet.
The date that cows cycled should be recorded on the board or notebook, so it should be easier to tell when they are due to cycle again.
Once breeding starts you should use another colour, i.e., yellow, to identify cows that have been served and cows that haven’t.
Breeding season
Keeping records is a vital part of this, but you then have to put the records into action and make use of them.
Whether you are using heat detection technology or tail paint you have to act on what information you have.
Focus on the cows that do not have a heat over the next three weeks and get them cycling to give you a chance to get them in calf early in the breeding season.
Track the cows that are cycling to give you an idea of when you expect them to have a heat and this should help when breeding begins.
Many farms have systems in place for tracking cows so whatever works for you use it.
Getting as many cows as possible in calf in the first six weeks of breeding should be the goal, weather conditions have made it more challenging – but you should continue to focus on it.
The challenging spring may be the reason why some cows are not in the herd next year, but it should not be used as an excuse to let your heat detection work slip.