Cows 365 Blog

August 2011 - Posts

• Big is not beautiful.

  Visited a large dairy farm with excess of 400 dairy cows today and the reproductive performance of same was poor. There were many underlying herd health problems on this farm and it was very evident management was not able to keep abreast of the management on the farm. This is a phenomenon associated with large dairy herds. Failure to employ sufficient staff of a standard to meet the requirements for good management practice. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 31 2011, 11:52 AM by cows365 with no comments Select Tags... SaveCancel Filed under: reproductive performance [Edit Tags]

• Dr Dan’s Weekly Farm Diary up to August 29, 2011

  Scanning dairy and suckler herds. Having returned from holidays, my schedule was full this week with clients waiting on calls for the previous two weeks. This time of year sees the suckler herds come on stream for pregnancy scanning. Therefore, there is plenty of variety on the work schedule. This also suits the students on work experience. The most noted feature of our days now is the decreasing hours of daylight both morning and evening. There has also been a significant drop in morning temperatures with an Autumn chill in the air. The Autumn colours have begun with the deciduous trees turning various shades of green to gold. Calls began this week in Killarney, with calls in the midlands on Tuesday and the remainder of the week spent in the North of Ireland. The impending super levy has placed brakes on expansion in the dairy industry. Reality has hit hard on many fronts. Farmers are now scanning herds to identify empty cows, late calvers for 2012, and the sex of pregnancies in late calvers for 2012. The most striking feature for this week was the significantly higher pregnancy rates in British Friesian Cross Holstein cows when compared with the Holstein herds both North and South of the border. The British Friesian Cross Holstein herds focused on grass-based milk production with rolling herd averages close to 5,000 litres. Empty rates in these herds ranged from 8 to 15% for a 13 week breeding period. Empty rates for Holstein herds ranged from 15 to 25%. Dairy herds in the North of Ireland calve almost every month of the year. Infertility is the main driver for this type of calving pattern. On many farms visited in the North, first calvers have begun to enter the dairy herds. With a contract milk price of 29.54 pence sterling/litre, farmers are very buoyant about the industry for the future. Suckler herds visited this week entailed either commercial or pedigree breeders. It is rare to find a full-time suckler farmer. They need to organise time out to accommodate our visit. Pregnancy rates in the commercial suckler herd is generally excellent, but that in the pedigree herds is significantly lower. Finally, most of the students assisting us with our research programme will finish in the next two weeks. The students have learned the importance of preventative health management as a tool in maximizing reproductive performance, which is the primary driver of cost efficient milk production. Regards Dr.Dan and all the team @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 30 2011, 12:21 PM by cows365 with no comments [Edit Tags]

• How meaningful are Reps plans?

  On a farm visit in County Kerry a farmer informed me that he was in Reps. The main complaint about the programme was that the fact that he had to spread lime on his land. I was taken aback at this type of attitude as the practice would only have a beneficial effect if it was only a requirement. The farm in terms of yard layout, collection of run-off soiled water was totally inadequate when I realized that all washings in the yard were entering a drain leaving the farm yard without any collection system for same. Supervision of many of these programmes at farm level is inadequate and many farmers need to improve their attitude towards the environment in terms of management. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 29 2011, 09:43 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: Reps plans [Edit Tags]

• Mycotoxins cause severe infertility in a dairy herd.

  Visited a herd in Northern Ireland today where a scan for reproductive assessment revealed severe infertility in the herd. The rate of involution of the uterus in freshly calved cows was severely delayed. Cows were presumed pregnant had a high incidence of embryonic death and foetal abnormalities accounted for two of the 10 pregnancies diagnosed. Further assessment of the herd revealed that cows were being buffer fed with silages that were of poor quality. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 26 2011, 10:50 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: mycotoxins [Edit Tags]

• An infertile bull may not explain infertility in a herd.

  Visited a herd in county Clare where a herd of dairy cows were presented for scanning. The stock bull was with the cows for the previous 6 weeks prior to the visit. No cows were in calf to the stock bull. In addition, the pregnancy rate to 95 straws used in conjunction to AI was below 30%. This factored into an overall herd fertility problem which needs to be address rather than blaming the stock bull. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 25 2011, 10:45 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: infertile bull [Edit Tags]

• Ensure liquid nitrogen is topped up in your AI flask in a routine basis.

  Travelled down to west Cork to a client where a fertility problem pertained with a large number of cows repeating. The cows were reproductively sound based on the scan with no sign of abnormalities as to why they were repeating. Further discussion revealed that those cows pregnant were to 2 particular bulls and the repeats were to a selection of 4 bulls. It transpired that the 4 bulls to whom all the repeats were, belonged to one particular AI company and the other bulls were from another AI company. The liquid nitrogen tank was topped up when the straws from the company with the 2 AI bulls were put into the AI flask. Based on analysis of 2 AI straws from the selection of 4 bulls, all of the sperm were dead. In my opinion, the liquid nitrogen had ran too low in the presence of the 4 sires from one AI company Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 25 2011, 10:43 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: Liquid Nitrogen, AI Flask [Edit Tags]

• Good fertility results

  Visited farms in Laois, Tipperary, and Limerick, The first farm outside Abbeyleix had some good fertility results mixed in with some ED’s and COB’s. In a farm outside Nenagh, Co. Tipperary fertility results were very good as cows were well fed and maintained with good body condition score. Finally,on a farm in Limerick embryo’s were taken from the cow and given to the farmer. Embryo transfer will be a key technique on this farm. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 19 2011, 09:58 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: body condition, animal fertility [Edit Tags]

• Infertility in a suckler herd.

  Visited a suckler herd outside Coachford in County Cork where 50 suckler cows were presented for pregnancy ageing and sexing and identification of empty cows using scanning. 40% of the cows were empty and the client was shocked at the level of infertility. We advised the client to address the problem with a programme involving milk sampling to identify animal health issues in the herd. The client had his 2 stock bulls tested for fertility and there was no issue with their fertility. BCS of the cows however was excess being close to 4/4.5 www.cows365.com Posted Aug 18 2011, 11:08 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: infertility in a suckler herd [Edit Tags]

• Pregnancy rate close to 90%

  Our first call this morning was to a farm down in West Cork. This client had contract rearing for young stock on an outside farm and milking in excess of 100 dairy cows on the home farm. This man was down to earth with a straight forward grass based milk production system. His focus centered primarily on achieving BCS of 3.5 for the dry period. Cows wintered on a protected slated unit whereby cow comfort was a focus. Overall pregnancy rate was a 12 week breeding period and was close to 90%. This was excellent considering that 20% of the cows were not bred after the first 3 weeks of the breeding programme. This farmer has an excellent system for managing records on his farm with the use of an iphone and an Evernote application. Demonstration of this application to us was just excellent and one that we will consider using for our website cows365 for the future. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 17 2011, 12:15 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: pregnancy rate close to90% [Edit Tags]

• Robotic milking parlours as an option for dairy cows.

  Visited a dairy farm outside Bushmills, County Antrim today where a robotic parlour was installed with 150 cows. 2 Robots milking same. The cows were at grass with this system and because of the wet year this year, the farmer claimed he was loosing about 2 years of milking over that expected. He claims that the cows come in from grass to the robot to be milked and return to grass. This system is completely automated and requires minimal input from a labour perspective. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 16 2011, 10:26 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: robotic milking [Edit Tags]

• Excellent pregnancy rates in a suckler herd.

  Visited a client outside Downpatrick who presented over 100 suckler cows where the pregnancy rate for a 10 week window of opportunity was 95%.  This is far in excess of anything recorded on dairy farms visited.  This client had a herd of Angus Cross Friesian cows and Crossed back with Aberdeen Angus bulls to produce weanlings for the Angus beef assurance scheme.  With fertility levels and performance figures on this farm far surpasses any of the Charolais Cross cows with a higher maintenance cost and the issue of infertility associated with same. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com   Posted Aug 15 2011, 10:57 AM by cows365 with 1 comment(s) Filed under: pregnancy rates in suckler herd [Edit Tags]

• Bazadais cows produce excellent cross-bred Belgian Blue calves for the export market.

  Visited a suckler herd outside Portlaoise where a client presented a herd of Bazadais cows which were crossed with Belgian Blue to produce Cross-bred beef calves for the export market.  These calves were of excellent confirmation and are what is required for maximum return on investment in the beef industry. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 12 2011, 03:20 PM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: Belgian Blue cross, Bazadais cows [Edit Tags]

• system has to be seen to be believed

  Visited a farm outside Milford, County Cork where a client presented a herd for pregnancy scanning. Most outstanding feature of this farm visit was the presence of a side by side crush to facilitate the handling of animals.  This system has to be seen to be believed as it results in excellent control of animals. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 11 2011, 10:12 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: crush facilities [Edit Tags]

• Fertility in maiden heifers may be associated with health problems as young stock.

  Visited a dairy herd in North Tipperary where a group of maiden heifers were being scanned.  These heifers had been synchronized for purpose of AI. Pregnancy rate was extremely poor. Further discussion with the client revealed that these heifers had suffered  coccidiosis as calves.  In my opinion, these diseases have an impact on the long-term reproductive performance of cattle. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 10 2011, 10:32 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: coccidiosis [Edit Tags]

• Excess cows for quota available creates problems.

  On a farm visit this evening outside Mallow, County Cork, the client presented over 100 cows for a pregnancy scan.  The farmer had excess numbers for quota available and this in turn resulted in cows being underfed for the past 2 months, excess BCS loss, reproductive failure in a large number of cows.  Calving to pregnancy interval was increased dramatically with only 60% of dairy herd pregnant for the first 10 weeks of the breeding programme.  My advise here is match cows to quota available. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 09 2011, 09:42 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: match cows to quota available. [Edit Tags]

• Low copper and high iron blamed for infertility in a dairy herd.

  Visited a dairy herd outside Tallow, County Waterford where a herd of 70 cows were presented for reproductive assessment. A breeding programme began 15 weeks previously. The overall 12 week pregnancy rate from this rate was 60% with a pregnancy rate of 20% in the previous 3/6 week window for cows that were fit for service. The mineral status in the herd indicated very low copper and high iron status. The client had incorporated all of this pertaining high levels of copper in 3 previous occasions this year. Obviously this was not to any advantage in terms of reproductive performance in the herd. The overall health of the cows indicated poor BCS, excessive scouring of cows. I advised the client to have milk samples tested on a routine basis for various viral, bacterial diseases and parasites. Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 08 2011, 09:24 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: loow copper, high iron [Edit Tags]

• Outbreak of TB in suckler calves

  First farm call this morning was outside Tralee, County Kerry.  This farm had an outbreak of TB.  What makes the situation interesting an in another neighbouring farm is the fact that the incidence of TB was very high in suckler calves.  This has been linked to the fact that all of those cows with high cell counts on farms had their milk fed to the suckler calves.  All of the cows with high cell counts went down with TB and the calves fed with this milk also went down  with TB.  In the case study visited to today, the client made the point that the calves were housed in a shed where the door was always closed at night and there was no access by badgers to contaminate the feed or water fed to the calves.   Dr Dan @ www.cows365.com   Posted Aug 04 2011, 09:57 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: outbreak of TB in suckler calves [Edit Tags]

• Annual health screening needs to be followed up with action.

  Scanned a herd of dairy cows this morning outside Fermoy where pregnancy rate was very poor.  Discussion with the farmer as to the reasons behind same revealed that he had a milk sample tested recently and the client had no understanding of the results of same.  He showed  me a copy and I was astounded by the high readings of IBR and BVD. There was no vaccination programme in place on the farm.  I advised him strongly to get a sample taken immediately to test for the virus in the herd and to identify any Pi’s and remove them from the herd. This begs the question : are we providing a service whereby testing is completed but there is no follow through in terms of communication with the client.  Subsequent action is needed to rectify this problem. Dr.Dan @ www.cows365.com Posted Aug 03 2011, 09:42 AM by cows365 with no comments Filed under: annual screen health on farms [Edit Tags]