Cows 365 Blog

April 2010 - Posts

• Pre Breeding scan results

  Completed a call outside Newcastlewest in County Limerick this morning.  A Holstein Friesian herd with 50 cows presented for a pre breed scan. 80% of the cows not fit for breeding. The client wanted to synchronise the cows but my advise was based on the reproductive status of the cows and that would be unsuccessful. Oestrus Synchronisation in cows that are not fit for breeding results in a very poor submission of pregnancy rates. The animals in question on this farm had incomplete involution but were not cycling. This status was associated with the fact that the dry matter intakes were restricted because of poor grass growth rates and poor concentrate supplementation to meet the balance  of the Genotype in question for milk production. The advise to clients was to increase concentrate supplementation for the  next 6 weeks and to have a diet balance to meet  the demands of the cows for milk production and to maintain body condition score.These clients shoudl use the services of a  nutritionist to put a diet in place for the dry cow  & early post calving management of the herd. Most farmers do not see the impact that Body condition loss on their cows over time. It is only with an experienced eye coming onto the farm on a routine basis that picks up on this effect. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 30 2010, 11:36 AM by cows365 with no comments Select Tags... SaveCancel Filed under: nutrition, body condition, breeding, bcs [Edit Tags]

• Reasons for non heat detection

  Here on a farm in North Cork today, the first three farm visits  would have 15% on average, cows yet still to calve.Considering all these herds started calving 13 weeks ago, this is in an example of how calving patterns have slipped over the past number of years. These cows will not calve for the  next 4/5 weeks and realistically with very little hope of going in calf in the coming year. The farms visited this morning, the clients presenting the cows  not detected in heat for the first 3/4 weeks of the breeding season and wish to find the underlying reasons  as to why cows are not being detected. The range of problems encountered include lameness, mastitis, poor  body condition score  and  establish the reproductive tract.  For early ovulatin post calving, the incidence of ovarian cysts among cows presented today, was less than 2%. Dr Dan Ryan, Cow Scanning www.cows365.com Posted Apr 27 2010, 09:41 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: Mastitis, lameness, reproductive tract, ovarian cysts [Edit Tags]

• delay of sexed semen imports into Ireland

  The main breeding season is about the first Spring calvings in the south of Ireland- commences  this week with cows calving from beginning of February onwards. The no-fly zone created by the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland has impacted on the availability  of the importation of sexed semen into Ireland.  Farmers are having to delay the start of the breeding programmes in maiden heifers where sex semen is used for at least another week in the hope that shipments will come into the country soon. Dr Dan Ryan,  cow scanning. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 26 2010, 01:11 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: maiden heifers, breeding season, sexed semen [Edit Tags]

• Partnership in farming

  Visited a farm in County Waterford with 180 cows milking. A partnership was formed with  an adjoining  farm allowing access to his farm and increasing cow numbers milked through the one unit. Numbers stand at 180 cows milking. However, because of farm fragmentation and structure, the cows have to walk up to 1.8 kms for grazing,  This is very demanding on the cows and roadways would need to be excellent to accomodate the presence of the cows feet. Lameness becomes a big issue and in turn causes major fertility problems. Farm fragmentation is a major factor  with distances required to travel for grazing. One would question whether is would be better to have zero grazing and bring grass to the cow. Dr Dan Ryan, Reprodoc Ltd www.cows365.com         Posted Apr 26 2010, 12:56 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: lameness, partnership, zero grazing, farm fragmentation [Edit Tags]

• poor body condition score in cows

  in North Cork yesterday, mornings are atill very cold. Cows with mastitis  & chills still very prevalent. First call of the day was to a herd of dairy cows with all year round calving pattern.An interesting  phenomenal with the herd is the number of cows in calf with poor body condition score. The client informed me that the herd had a severe stomach fluke in the dry cow period, were treated and now starting to recover. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 23 2010, 03:25 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: body condition score, all year round calving [Edit Tags]

• Coccidiosis in animals

  on calls down around County Limerick area yesterday, the farmers now have to include in the diet anti-coccidiosis agent in the diet after certain Mills are licensed to use it - cost an estra 60 euros per tonne for it's  inclusion and it has been associated with the Broiler industry which is prevelant in the area. Coccidiosis causes extreme pining in calves and high losses among same. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 22 2010, 03:36 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: coccidiosis [Edit Tags]

• Increase in mastitis in cows in Cork and Limerick areas

  On calls between Counties of Cork and Limerick,farmers are complaining of higher than normal incidence of mastitis in cows. Night time temperatures are low, grass is scarce and puts additional stress on cows and leaves them vunerable to diseases - mastitis, pnuemonia and chills.. It would be preferable to keep cows indoors at night until the temperatures improve. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 22 2010, 12:27 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: Mastitis, pneumonia [Edit Tags]

• Focusing on milk production

  With dairy farmers in County Limerick yesterday and some getting out of the beef enterprises and aiming to increase cow numbers and focus on cows for the core enterprise. Far too much money has been lost on finishing beef cattle.  The cost of finishing is too high and one farmer has close to spending  25,000E up to 150 beef cattle in this winter alone. He has to sell all of his calves in future and focus on milk production - high production type holstein cows. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 22 2010, 12:02 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: beef farming, milk production [Edit Tags]

• Copper deficiency in cows

  Visited a farm in County Limerick yesterday on a pre breed reproductive scan. 90% of the cows were cycling although BCS was low. The client claimed that the cows had improved dramatically in the pst 3 weeks in terms  of Body Condition score. This would explain why so many cows were cycling. However, on examination of the cows, I noticed all of the cows had a swelling on the rump and the client informed me that it was associated with an injection of copper as he had to do some each year to try and prevent the extreme tinge associated with copper deficiency on the coats of the cows. However, this local  immune to the copper injection has shown to decrease fertility from previous experimental work completed by Professor Marie Boland & Associates in UCD. Injections of this form should be avoided at time of breeding. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com    Posted Apr 22 2010, 11:03 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: breeding, copper deficiency, pre breed scan, bcs [Edit Tags]

• Delayed puberty in maiden beef heifers and the use of a Short Horn bull

  Visited a suckler farmer in County Limerick with charolais pedigree heifers and charolais cross friesian heifers running with a short horn bull for the past 3 months. Two thirds of the heifers were in a pre-pubertal state and those that were cycling were all in calf.  The heifers that were in a pre pubertal state were over 18 months of age and this situation is frequently encountered and is associated with previous environmental stressors which may date back to an event such as pneumonia or calves scour in the first weeks of life. The client found it difficult to accept that the heifers could not be cycling based on the fact that they were in good body condition. However, the heifers were  of poor size relative to their age  and this indicates some stressor in their early development. This client was also using a short horn bull on the maiden heifers as would enable easy calvings for the first calvings thereby allowing earlier recovery post calving. Also, the client works away from home on a daily basis and could not afford to have difficult calvings where he would not be site during the calving period. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 22 2010, 10:45 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: delayed puberty, stressors [Edit Tags]

• Cow comfort and its importance in breeding.

  Visited a herd in County Kerry yesterday with a herd of suckler cows with a breeding programme set for the winter period.  There were various cross-breeds in the herds with simmental cross, charolais cross & limousin cross & hereford cross. Cows were housed on slats with a run for the calves.  One of the most noticeable features here was that the simmental cross and the charolais cross were anoestrus  and had not responded to synchronisation involving progesterone treatment, intra-vaginal progesterone device .  Body condition score on all of the animals were similiar with a body condition score of 2-2.5 which would be below the acceptable figure of 2.5 in all cases.  The housing environment would not be conducive to the cow comfort of the animals as the animals are housed on concrete slats without the rubber matting which gives great comfort to the animals in terms of lying down and resting.  It is very interesting that the charolais and simmental crosses do not respond well to this environment. There would also be an element of mutiple suckling among simmental crosses which would increase the level of anoestrus. It is therefore important to select a geneotype that suits ther environment in which the animals are being managed. Ideally, the comfort of the animals is more important in scenario. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 21 2010, 12:56 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: cow comfort, breeding [Edit Tags]

• Infertile bulls

  With a client in County Louth today. Stock bull running with cows for the winter and cows were reproductively sound but not in calf. I noticed a cow bulling and the bull was trying to mate her but his penis was inverted and failing to reach the cow..Pointed this out to the farmer and he could not believe it.  This explained why pregnancy rate was so poor.  Bulls may ejaculate and still not be fertile in the sense of capacity to breed the cow. Faults like this will create severe reproductive problems in the dairy or beef herd. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 19 2010, 01:06 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: poor pregnancy rate, infertile bulls [Edit Tags]

• British Friesian pre scan

  Visited a Brisith Friesian  farm in Thurles Co Tipperary today. Pre breed scan using Ultrasonography. This herd of 60 milking cows with 90% of them calved in excess of 30 days had an excellent reproductive status. This could be associated wth the fact that all cows scanned had no feet or uterine infections, ovarian cysts and only 1 cow was not cycling. This British Friesian herd has a genetic potential for  6,000 litres of milk  and to meet the metabolic load. Body Condition score of cows was above 2.5 for over 80% of the cows. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 19 2010, 12:10 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: body condition, British Friesian, reproductive status, genetic potential [Edit Tags]

• Body condition score in cows

  Visited a farm near Killarney.70  cows milking. Total feed included maize and concentrates. This amounted to a substantial amount of money spent on feed alone and not including labour etc. Body condition score on farmers cows and dry cows was excellent and the farmer is pleased with the outcome as body condition score is being maintained. Dr Dan Ryan www.cows365.com Posted Apr 16 2010, 12:29 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: body condition score [Edit Tags]

• Cow comfort

  visited a farm in North Kerry today where we saw a dramatic improvement in pre-breed fertility scan, The main change associated with the farm was the erection of a new house for the cows giving them far greater feeding space.  Previous times he only had  30 feet of feeding space available for 60/75 cows at any time. The change has resulted in a dramatic improvement in cow comfort with greater feeding area and greater lying areas for cows.  This will impact on cow comfort and it is critical that one has cow comfort in mind with the breeding of cows. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 13 2010, 03:59 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: pre-breed scan, cow comfort [Edit Tags]

• Potassium induced grass tetany in dairy cows

  Visited a farm in West Cork where feed shortages resulted in cows being fed  high level of concentrates with  straw.  The weather improved and cows were left out to grass.   The following morning 6 out of 90 cows were found dead.  Investigation showed that grass was very high in potassium making magnesiumm unavailable for  the cows. Cows  reduced their intakes of concentrates  because of grass substitution. The cows ultimately died from grass tetany. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 12 2010, 05:04 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: grass tetany, high level of concentrates, potassium [Edit Tags]

• Foot rot and its impact on breeding

  Visited 2 farms today. BCS of the cows was in an acceptable range for 80% of the cows. However, there are major issues regarding the fitness of the cows for breeding as determined by Ultrasonography of the reproductive tract.  In both cases, over 50% of the cows were deemed not fit for breeding as determined by the uterine structure and ovarian activity.  In both cases, there wer approx 10% of the herd diagnosied with clinical foot rot. This incidence of foot rot is far too high and is associated with cows housed indoors for excessive periods with poor hygiene  in the walking or lying areas Foot rot causes severe stress  to the animals and will impact on structure of the Uterus and ovarian function Posted Apr 09 2010, 03:36 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: ovarian function, uterine involution, Fot rot, severe stress [Edit Tags]

• Body condition score

  Visited a farm today milking 120 cows. Average milk production was 42 litres per cow. BCS on these cows was excellent with 80% of the cows having a BCS  of 2.5 plus for cows that were calved greater than 14 days presented on a pre-breeding reproductive assessment scan. Also 80% of the cows presented were fit for breeding based on uterine involution and ovarian function.  This  figure is remarkable considering the metabolic load that these cows were under.  However, diet management is excellent in terms in meeting the demands of these cows and preventing excessive body weight loss post calving.  There is also strong emphasis on BCS management in the dry cow period avoiding body weight loss by the time cows are dried off.  Therefore, BCS can be maintained to an acceptable level in high production type holstein cows. It does require high levels of input but there is a financial award in doing same even with current milk prices.  The farmer visited here today informed me that it was costing him the equivalent of 18 litres of milk to pay for concentrate supplementation. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 09 2010, 03:20 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: body condition score, ovarian function, holstein cows, uterine involution [Edit Tags]

• stomach fluke and its impact on pregnancy rate in heifers

  Visited a farm in County Limerick yesterday, which had a severe outbreak of stomach fluke.  The maiden heifers had previously been assessed  to determine stage of reproduction cycle for the purpose of synchronization.  The heifers yesterday were presented for pregnancy diagnosis and the pregnancy rate was very poor.  It was noted however by the farmer that there was a severe outbreak of stomach fluke which severely stressed the heifers and resulted in low pregnancy rate.  Over 60% of the heifers presented were not pregnant , were anoestrus. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 08 2010, 05:28 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: pregnancy rate, anoestrus, stomach fluke [Edit Tags]

• Impact of over-crowding on reproductive performance

  Visited a farm in County Offaly yesterday with 160 milking cows. Breeding program for calving next Spring has begun.  The fertility scan identified a high proportion of cows that were cycling and greater than 40 days calved  with abnormal structure of the uterine horns by Ultrasonography. In addition, a high proportion of the first calving cows were not cycling although body condition score of some animals would be sonsistent with animals  that should have normal reproductive cycles. Lameness and Mastitis in the herd were not significantant issues. Further investigations indicated that overcrowding could be an issue giving rise to these problems encountered.  There are a total of 120 cubicles for 165 cows. In addition, because of the late Spring cows on this farm were not allowed access to pasture. The only option available to the client is to bring grass in using zero grazing. Extra space will have to be made available to cows to allow the young stock which are more vunerable to the stressful environment access to  an area of land for purposes of lying out on a daily basis. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 07 2010, 05:43 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: reproductive performance, overcrowding of animals [Edit Tags]

• Robotic Milking

  Visited a farm in County Tipperary today  with a robotic milking parlour. 2 robots milking 100 cows. Excellent lay out in  terms of air-flow with gale breaker installed and a flush system to  maintain the milking areas clean. The lay-out of the  cow shed  is such that cows have easy view of the robot.  The shed was built with cow comfort in mind. There is excellent air-flow through the house and the cubicles are designed with plenty of room for the animals to lie down. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 07 2010, 05:08 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: robotic milking, cubicles [Edit Tags]

• Embryonic death of animals

  Visited 2 farms around Cork  today in southern Ireland.  Very high incidence of embryonic death of animals presented in excess of 300 cows for the 2 farms in question. The incidence of embryonic death was 20%. The alarming  feature of this was the fact that these embryos died between  30 and 60 days of pregnancy. In addition, the pregnancy rate assessed for cows presented greater than 95 days calved with stock bulls running with the herds was 35%. Lepto and BVD vaccinations are in place in both farms.IBR vaccination was in place in one farm only.  The pharmacuetical company has identified that a virus was involved in clinical cases of severe milk drop and pneumonia  like symptons among cows on one farm.  On the second farm, clinical cases of pnuemonia like symptons were identified. The problem on these farms maybe linked to issues surrounding the presence of persistent infected animals(PI) www.cows365.com to a viral or bacterial infections where  vaccination programs will not present clinical symptons of the disease.  My opinion is Veterinary consultation is required here to identify the persistent infected animals for IBR, BVD and Lepto  and viral screening for any other potential diseases.   Posted Apr 07 2010, 04:40 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: BVD, IBR, embryonic death, Lepto [Edit Tags]

• Fertility management at the end of the breeding program for Autumn calving herds in N.Irl

  Back up to the Orchard country of Armagh. Dairy herds up here are still indoors with no opportunity of getting out to grass.  Farmers are at the stage of breeding programs  that they wish to introduce bulls for AI as part of the bredding program.  Many of these individuals want to get an assessment of reproductive status to tidy up the breeding program.  They need to make an assessment of cows  that have not yet been diagnosed pregnant  and to synchronize  these cows before they go out to grass.  Many farmers make the claim that the pregnancy rate after turn out to grass decreases and that they cannot get cows settled in calf. From a research prospective it is very difficult to draw conslusions on this hypothesis with fertility management program incorporating cows that are primarly  an autumn calving herd.Many of these cows will have failed to go in calf during the winter.  They are repeat breeders and for various reasons have reproductive problems resulting in low pregnancy rates to services.  At this  stage of the season, farmers want to turn cows out to grass, put a stock bull with them and focus on other management issues on the farm.  Temperatures have dropped back down to freezing point at the beginning of this week and it is expected to get very cold with a northern air flow for the remainder of the week. This has set back grass growth  and the delay in turnign cows out to grass. Many farmers are feeding the second cut silages which are of poor quality, resulting in poor reproductive performance and this accerbates the apparent poor fertility among repeat breeders and late calving cows. www.cows365.com Posted Apr 06 2010, 09:18 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: fertility rate, pregnancy rates to services [Edit Tags]