While most New Zealand dairy farmers are busy calving at the moment it’s also the opportune time to prepare for mating. Farm Source's Programme Manager On Farm Excellence (Environment), Lousie Cook, and General Manager On-Farm Excellence (Animals), Tennielle Ellingham, provide a checklist of approaches to take now to set yourself up for the future.
- Identify your critical partners
- What is Body Condition Score (BCS)?
- Health
- Review prior data
- Team training – heat identification and processes
- Nutrition
Your vet will be your best ally over this period. They are as invested in your herd’s success as you are. Also, think about the feed resources you have – now and in the future.
Between now and mating, the most important thing for farmers to focus on is the body condition score of individual cows. First of all, identify what the cow’s BCS is and as required, work on strategies for cows who are sub-optimal. By looking at the individual animal you will be able to identify some of the physical indicators that suggest the season hasn’t been as easy as it has been for others in the herd. Apply intervention strategies to those individual animals to help them leapfrog up the chain so they are ready for a successful mating period.
Tip: If you have individual cows with a BCS below four think about changing the milking frequency for these animals. You don’t necessarily need to run a separate mob.
Be proactive – take bloods from your herd to assess their overall health. Bloods taken in the pre-mating period and early calving period can identify if there is subclinical ketosis in the herd or if magnesium and calcium levels are adequate. It is crucial to ensure there no subclinical diseases that can impact our cows.
Tip: Selenium and iodine are critical for reproductive health.
Metrichecking identifies cows with any uterine infections. The sooner you can identify any areas of concern, the sooner you can remedy the situation ahead of mating. This can be assessed at the same time as you have the vet on farm to do the bloodwork.
Tip: Talk to your vet about metrichecking your herd in batches to make sure you have the best chance of identifying and treating affected cows early.
Look through your Fertility Focus report to assess any indicators or opportunities that might have emerged last season that you could work on.
Tip: Talk to your vet and your breeding company to discuss how a different result might be achieved on farm.
Establish your protocols early and communicate these across your farm team. How are you planning to monitor heat detection? Do you have tail paint on? How are you monitoring your herd 35 days out from mating? Is it a whiteboard at the shed that staff can update? Is it a WhatsApp chat group?
Tip: Now is the time to train your staff.
Making sure cows are supported before and throughout mating by focussing on her energy intake. For all farms the majority of this is in the quality of her pasture portion of the diet.
Talk with your vet to make a plan for your farm on the best approach to reproduction and meeting the energy requirements of all cows in your herd.