For those of you autumn block calving, PD sessions are still likely to be dominating your thoughts.  No matter how successful those sessions will have been you will now be into ‘repeats’ territory which requires an organised approach.  Indications of good PD rates on client farms are encouraging which may be a silver lining to less than exciting milk yields seen this winter.  Main factors to review:

• Heat detection Activity monitors are said to be at best 75% effective, so firstly if you have a system, is it this good and who is looking at the other 25%?  How good is your current system of cow observation?  Your first 3 week submission rate will help answer this and basically if you served 85 to 90% of eligible cows then you must be doing well.  It is always worth remembering that a cow will stand to be mounted 8 times during a heat, but each ‘stand’ will only last 3 seconds.

But remember, as more cows conceive, the opportunity for Daisy to mess about with Gertrude will decrease because Daisy is now in calf and off for a lie down…making Gertrude’s bulling activity far less obvious!

• Cow Housing The majority of loafing yards have a favoured area for bulling which is likely to be away from main cow traffic areas, have a good non-slip surface and importantly room for cows to exhibit natural bulling behaviour without the fear of getting into trouble on any wall, gate or barrier.

• Good communication This is vital and clearly gets more important for larger teams of staff.  A mix of fresh, newly eligible (post 40 day calved cows) and synchronised cows, alongside cows coming up for PD, all make for confusing times in a yard full of cows.  A well-defined protocol using different coloured chalks is very simple and effective; the date of service written above a cow’s thurl in chalk is also a simple and useful guide.

• Good records are vital and whether it is paper based or computerised it must be easy to access, even for the weekend relief who only looks at this a few times per year.  The records must be easy to refer to and update so that you all know what needs to be done.

All too often the enthusiasm for a good first 3 week submission can be followed by a less than enthusiastic period, it is important to keep pushing on and take all opportunities to monitor and if necessary vet check cows to keep that block tight and stop a long calving tail.

Most important of all make sure you all recognise the success you have achieved during the breeding season as this will provide the best motivation to continually improve.

For more information contact your local office or Chris Coxon at chriscoxon@fcgagric.com