Grass: This is a difficult time of the year to manage grass. On some farms grass is scarce because not enough rain has fallen, while on other farms too much rain has fallen and that’s causing different problems.
Aside from all of that, grass wants to go to seed now regardless and that means quality is going to suffer because seed heads and stem replaces the nice lush leaves that grow when grass is in the vegetative state.
In many respects it is grassland management over the last three or four rotations that will determine quality now. Fields that were poorly grazed out will have a lot more stem and seed heads compared to those that were well grazed out. Correcting these pastures is not going to be easy. If topping is to be done correctly there will be a lot of material left behind to rot, and growth rates on those paddocks will take a big hit.
I don’t like the idea of pre-mowing a paddock with a grass quality problem because you are removing the cows’ ability to select the nice grass and leave the not-so-nice stem. By far the best option is to select these paddocks for silage when there is a grass surplus. This will also affect growth rates, but to a lesser degree than topping. However, it’s only a real option for a small number of paddocks and many farmers aren’t in a grass surplus position yet. Best policy is to tackle problem paddocks bit by bit each week for the next few weeks.
Breeding: Many herds are approaching the six-week mark of breeding now, and any cow not yet served will need immediate attention if she is to have any hope of staying in the herd. Don’t read too much into non-return rates.
These are the percentage of cows that don’t come bulling 28 days after service. The target is 65% but a share of these will ‘break-down’ later. In other words, non-return rate is not the same as conception rate. If non-return rates are running a lot lower than 65% it means something is wrong and it needs to be investigated. There are many possible reasons as to why this is the case from heat detection, genetics, cow condition score, operator error to equipment/AI problems.
Beef bulls : At this stage cows inseminated now won’t calve until after 17 March, which is late for heifer calves – particularly on farms where calving starts in early February.
Therefore, most farmers will be using beef AI or releasing beef stock bulls. Make sure the bull is up to work and continue to use AI for a few days after the bulls are introduced.
Some of the AI companies promote the use of triple bulls at this time of the season, that is mixing three beef sires in the one straw. The thinking behind this is that the semen will have a longer “shelf-life” in the uterus with fast and slow swimmers extending the duration of time that the insemination covers. This might help to overcome some of the issues if heat detection is poor.
On beef AI bulls, calving ease and gestation length should be high priority as the season goes on. Many farmers will tolerate harder calvings earlier in the season in order to breed better calves, but easier calving and shorter gestation is more important for the last six weeks of calving.
Grass: This is a difficult time of the year to manage grass. On some farms grass is scarce because not enough rain has fallen, while on other farms too much rain has fallen and that’s causing different problems.
Aside from all of that, grass wants to go to seed now regardless and that means quality is going to suffer because seed heads and stem replaces the nice lush leaves that grow when grass is in the vegetative state.
In many respects it is grassland management over the last three or four rotations that will determine quality now. Fields that were poorly grazed out will have a lot more stem and seed heads compared to those that were well grazed out. Correcting these pastures is not going to be easy. If topping is to be done correctly there will be a lot of material left behind to rot, and growth rates on those paddocks will take a big hit.
I don’t like the idea of pre-mowing a paddock with a grass quality problem because you are removing the cows’ ability to select the nice grass and leave the not-so-nice stem. By far the best option is to select these paddocks for silage when there is a grass surplus. This will also affect growth rates, but to a lesser degree than topping. However, it’s only a real option for a small number of paddocks and many farmers aren’t in a grass surplus position yet. Best policy is to tackle problem paddocks bit by bit each week for the next few weeks.
Breeding: Many herds are approaching the six-week mark of breeding now, and any cow not yet served will need immediate attention if she is to have any hope of staying in the herd. Don’t read too much into non-return rates.
These are the percentage of cows that don’t come bulling 28 days after service. The target is 65% but a share of these will ‘break-down’ later. In other words, non-return rate is not the same as conception rate. If non-return rates are running a lot lower than 65% it means something is wrong and it needs to be investigated. There are many possible reasons as to why this is the case from heat detection, genetics, cow condition score, operator error to equipment/AI problems.
Beef bulls : At this stage cows inseminated now won’t calve until after 17 March, which is late for heifer calves – particularly on farms where calving starts in early February.
Therefore, most farmers will be using beef AI or releasing beef stock bulls. Make sure the bull is up to work and continue to use AI for a few days after the bulls are introduced.
Some of the AI companies promote the use of triple bulls at this time of the season, that is mixing three beef sires in the one straw. The thinking behind this is that the semen will have a longer “shelf-life” in the uterus with fast and slow swimmers extending the duration of time that the insemination covers. This might help to overcome some of the issues if heat detection is poor.
On beef AI bulls, calving ease and gestation length should be high priority as the season goes on. Many farmers will tolerate harder calvings earlier in the season in order to breed better calves, but easier calving and shorter gestation is more important for the last six weeks of calving.
SHARING OPTIONS