Breeding is now in full flow as the bull joined up with the main group of cows on the out farm earlier this week.

AI is underway with the younger cows at home and a share of the first and second calvers were bulled early last week but have been quiet since, so I expect them to become more active over the next fortnight.

The maiden heifers went through their synchronisation programme last week.

They were inseminated on Friday and whether or not it will be a crazy first week of March 2026 won’t be known for another fortnight and they will be kept under good watch until then.

I’ll reserve judgment on whether the procedure will form part of the annual breeding plan.

It’s very early days and I’ve plenty of time to make my mind up on it, but it was something I wanted to try out.

It removed the need for a bull and an extra mouth to feed but increased the amount of time involved in the lead up to breeding.

Labour

Having so many bulled in one go reduces the labour a bit from now, but if a good proportion of them hold that could be compensated for in early March.

The week or so between starting the programme and insemination went well but required a bit of planning.

Some of the paddocks at the ground they’re at don’t lend themselves to getting them in easy so they were closed for silage.

Fields with good access to the yard were prioritised for grazing and combined with a few changes to the yard layout in recent years, and not breeding heifers with disposition issues made that easier.

They handled the repetitive in and out of the yard nature of the job better than I expected with a small pick of ration every second day or so keeping them onside when it came to bringing them in.

Observation

Loading the crush proved more time-consuming than getting them in, but it still wasn’t that bad.

An alternative to synchronisation is to go with AI on its own but that requires a lot more time spent on observation and means AI in two yards.

If the maiden heifers were kept at home and run with the main group, it would just be one group to watch and it would be AI all the way.

That sounds like a good idea but where they are now keeps it simple.

Once breeding is out of the way they almost become an afterthought as, scanning aside, there’s no need for them to come into the yard, whereas the cows and calves could be in for vaccinating, weighing or weaning.

I assume it’s the same on most fragmented farms, but every year there’s a bit of an on-farm puzzle working out what group is going where.

There could be a run of a few years where the pattern doesn’t change but sometimes unforeseen circumstances can crop up and upset the routine.

Convenience and lowering labour are the main drivers when it comes to those decisions and the pros and cons are gone through every winter.

No matter what is tried, there always seems to be somewhere to shave another bit of time and work off the job.

It certainly makes for an easier workload and more enjoyable experience when it comes to farming.

Maybe the ‘work smarter not harder’ thing becomes more of a priority with age too.