Basic HTML Version
WINTER 2011 ISSUE
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
6
In advance of Chris's fertility visits, Michael
and his RMS technician draw up a list of
cows for inspection. Michael is aiming to
tighten the calving interval further and so Chris
is now examining cows earlier, at 30-40 days
post-calving instead of the usual 50 days. Any
cows not seen bulling are also examined for
evidence of infections or cystic ovaries.
Chris explains: ‘It's important to clear up any
residual infection before the cow is served.
We want every cow to be cycling and clear
by 50 days, so that the first service can be
made as soon as possible.’
‘Nowadays, every cow is examined at least
once in the first 100 days post-calving. The
critical thing is for them to be served within
100 days of calving.’
He adds: ‘I'm a firm believer that the
combination of a good RMS technician
working with the vet is an immeasurable help
in improving fertility parameters.’
Over the past few months, the Total Vet Report,
as recorded by the vet students, has shown an
increased level of cows returning to service.
‘We need to investigate and establish the
cause,’ says Chris. ‘That's the advantage of
the fuller report - it shows an active short term
picture not just the 12 month rolling average.’
A sweeper bull had been used on the farm in
the past. But this meant it was impossible to
tell whether a cow was potentially in-calf or
not, and so another cycle would go by before
intervention. This had been contributing to the
extended calving intervals, but now all cows
are served by AI.
During Chris' fertility visit, dry cows will also
be checked over and condition scored. Chris
says: ‘To ensure good fertility, it's important
that cows lose no more than 0.5 to 1.0
between the dry cow stage and the first
check after calving. At Springfield Farm, the
average change in condition is - 0.36, which
is very good.’
Michael adds: ‘As a herd gets bigger it
becomes more difficult to manage its fertility.
We have found that regular fertility visits
together with the RMS system is a very good
way for us to keep fertility on track.’
FERT I L I TY CAMPA IGN
The fertility visit
Other health issues
Chris explains: ‘At Springfield Farm, a
vaccination programme is in place to
prevent calf pneumonia. I was here the other
week just before calves were to be
vaccinated, but some calves had already
been affected with pneumonia. So blood
samples were taken to check which of the
three common pneumonia viruses were
present, and ensure we had prescribed an
appropriate vaccine. In fact, all three viruses
were present, yet the vaccine would only
protect against two of them. So now
Michael and his staff are going to keep a
close eye on calf health and we'll assess
whether to use an additional vaccine to
combat the third virus. We're not doing
this straight away because it may not be
needed. It's a case of weighing up the
risks and costs, knowing the farm and its
stock management, and getting a careful
balance between total disease prevention
and economics.’
Michael finds the quarterly herd health
report very useful: ‘The data gives us a very
accurate and up to date account of our
fertility, lameness and cell counts. So we
can focus on getting specific issues under
control. For instance, we had a high level of
digital dermatitis - the report found that the
footbath we were using was not effective
so we changed it and now also use an
antibiotic in the solution. As a consequence
we've halved our incidence of lameness.’
Chris explains: ‘By just being here on the
farm, I'm on hand to give Michael advice
on a whole host of herd management and
health issues. As well as calf health and
lameness, we have recently been discussing
how to prevent badgers from getting into
silage clamps and feed troughs, and
managing stock in TB shutdowns.’
The regular fertility visits are now part of
the herd management routine. With fertility
largely on track and under control, and
herd locomotion improved, Chris and
Michael are now going to focus on
reducing cell counts.
The regular farm visits also enable other health issues
to be given attention.
Body condition scoring is done on all the calved
cows presented for fertility inspection, as well as
the dry cows.
Scarsdale's Chris Parker makes fortnightly
visits to PD served cows and examine those
not seen bulling.
Michael and Chris review the latest findings in the
quarterly herd health report - it provides an accurate
account of fertility, lameness and cell counts.