Calving dates slipping

blue5000

Our calving dates slipped a lot this year compared to last year. In 2013 two thirds calved in march, this year only half in march. There is still 6 or 7 to calve. Only 4 or 5 calved in april. How are other herds comparing?

I'm in suckling and run 3 bulls, some ppl think the bulls weren't able to work in the heat last summer, also there was a knock on affect from spring 2013. I used AI on some heifers last year and let's just say I won't be using it again in a hurry:( I eventually let them off with a blonde bull and they still have to fcukin calve.

whelan2

ours calved earlier this year, still have 1 or two stragglers, these where all with the stock bull. 1 of the ones thats left to calve is a 14 year old that we kept away from bull all summer and then in october my father had a change of heart:mad:

bogman_bass

Do you vaccinate for lepto? It was warm last year but not hot enough for heat stress I would think

whelan2

bogman_bass wrote: »

Do you vaccinate for lepto? It was warm last year but not hot enough for heat stress I would think

Was thinking the same

Mad4simmental

blue5000 wrote: »

Our calving dates slipped a lot this year compared to last year. In 2013 two thirds calved in march, this year only half in march. There is still 6 or 7 to calve. Only 4 or 5 calved in april. How are other herds comparing?

I'm in suckling and run 3 bulls, some ppl think the bulls weren't able to work in the heat last summer, also there was a knock on affect from spring 2013. I used AI on some heifers last year and let's just say I won't be using it again in a hurry:( I eventually let them off with a blonde bull and they still have to fcukin calve.

You must have a fair few cows?
Is it possible to let the calves suck twice a day for the first month? This can bring the girls around allot quicker and might help you pull the dates back abit.

tanko

blue5000 wrote: »

Our calving dates slipped a lot this year compared to last year. In 2013 two thirds calved in march, this year only half in march. There is still 6 or 7 to calve. Only 4 or 5 calved in april. How are other herds comparing?

I'm in suckling and run 3 bulls, some ppl think the bulls weren't able to work in the heat last summer, also there was a knock on affect from spring 2013. I used AI on some heifers last year and let's just say I won't be using it again in a hurry:( I eventually let them off with a blonde bull and they still have to fcukin calve.

Same story here, cows/heifers just didn't come bulling in May last year. Come June 5th they came in a clatter. So had no calves in February or first half of March like previous years. Two cows left to calve next week that repeated after 6 and 9 weeks.

I do my own Ai here, heifers can be difficult to Ai. Your technician would have known well if he had done them properly or not. Is he experienced at the job. Heifers should be done during standing heat if possible. Good handling facilities which keep animals as still as possible during Ai will increase conception rates also.

blue5000

Around 20-25 with each bull, I don't vaccinate for lepto, I think heifers pick up natural immunity by running them with cull cows before bulling, lepto is there and I used to vaccinate.

Sorry I like a simple life and running cows into calves twice a day is too much like dairying for me.

One of the main reasons for 3 bulls is farm is fragmented, one bull and a bunch of cows and calves go to different plots and there are no handling facilities on out farms. It's a quiet road and we bring them back for dosing etc to the main yard.

I'd say it got to over 30C out in the sun here last July. A lot of our cows are angus x, maybe they were heat stressed?

whelan2

blue5000 wrote: »

Around 20-25 with each bull, I don't vaccinate for lepto, I think heifers pick up natural immunity by running them with cull cows before bulling, lepto is there and I used to vaccinate.

Sorry I like a simple life and running cows into calves twice a day is too much like dairying for me.

One of the main reasons for 3 bulls is farm is fragmented, one bull and a bunch of cows and calves go to different plots and there are no handling facilities on out farms. It's a quiet road and we bring them back for dosing etc to the main yard.

I'd say it got to over 30C out in the sun here last July. A lot of our cows are angus x, maybe they were heat stressed?

sure ours are angus too? might be no harm to blood for lepto, do they have mineral licks?

blue5000

whelan2 wrote: »

sure ours are angus too? might be no harm to blood for lepto, do they have mineral licks?

No licks, but boluses for Cu, Se and I used. Closed herd except for stock bull every couple of years. Only vaccinate for bvd, might be worth looking at lepto again, but prob too late for this year.

manjou

Same problem here cows slipped still have 2 heifers calve. Put it down to spring and extra stress which caused outbreak ibr or so vet said as showed up in blood samples so now vaccinating.This year differant cows and heifers mostly bulled and not seeing any repeats yet but wil wait till scanning.

tanko

blue5000 wrote: »

No licks, but boluses for Cu, Se and I used. Closed herd except for stock bull every couple of years. Only vaccinate for bvd, might be worth looking at lepto again, but prob too late for this year.

But your cows and heifers did go in calf albeit later than normal. If they had lepto would it not have stopped them going in calf at all or can it cause a temporary loss of fertility?

moy83

How was the condition of the cows from the previous year ? Ours were well thin after the lack of silage that year and some lads were saying they had trouble getting cows to come back bulling .
Would the bulls fertility be good or can you check for that ?

bogman_bass

You'll still get cows in calf but reduced fertility and possibly abortions

haybob

I has similar issues with a number of cows not going in calf till late in the year still have a few to calve. Mine got licks etc, Dad makes out it was down to average quality silage and the cold they would be hex cows for the most part.

I have 15 shorthorn cows that I out winter they had no issues going in calf

mahoney_j

Started calving 27 jan this year finished 04 April,more or less same for last few years.a few thing I do include
1 full herd health plan in conjunction with vet.screen for Bvd,lepto,salmonella,Ibr and enters johnes scheme this year .
2 herd vaccinated for above yearly
3 all breeding stock bloused
4 routine worm dosing and mineral bolus to calves
5 pool of dung samples tested for fluke every October
6 keep grass in front of stock high quality
7 silage tested for quality and minerals

I have very little issues with sick or downer stock.my vet bills are small for treatment of sick ainmsls are small but have a nice bill for preventative medicine like vaccines and bolus

leg wax

40 cows with the 1 bull last year, last cow last year was last this year bang on 365 days ci all done and dusted in 11 weeks , happy camper here, left him in 10 days earlier this year and most have been served even the 2 with twins, cant beat the alsure bolus and a randy bull:D.

5live

blue5000 wrote: »

Around 20-25 with each bull, I don't vaccinate for lepto, I think heifers pick up natural immunity by running them with cull cows before bulling, lepto is there and I used to vaccinate.

Sorry I like a simple life and running cows into calves twice a day is too much like dairying for me.

One of the main reasons for 3 bulls is farm is fragmented, one bull and a bunch of cows and calves go to different plots and there are no handling facilities on out farms. It's a quiet road and we bring them back for dosing etc to the main yard.

I'd say it got to over 30C out in the sun here last July. A lot of our cows are angus x, maybe they were heat stressed?

Is there much difference between the groups of cows with each bull? If one bull was sub fertile it would be apparent from his bunch of cows and drag down the average calving date overall.

If they were all back then i would look at lepto vaccine as an insurance policy and there is little you can do for the one year in 10 with heat stress.

blue5000

tanko wrote: »

But your cows and heifers did go in calf albeit later than normal. If they had lepto would it not have stopped them going in calf at all or can it cause a temporary loss of fertility?

I don't know if it's temporary, some older and first calvers didn't go in calf, poor condition I reckon is the main reason.

moy83 wrote: »

How was the condition of the cows from the previous year ? Ours were well thin after the lack of silage that year and some lads were saying they had trouble getting cows to come back bulling .
Would the bulls fertility be good or can you check for that ?

Bulls ok, one bull with the oldest cows would have more empty cows than other groups. But they are all 6+ lactations. All the other cows are descended from him. The bollix managed to serve one of his daughters in August:o

5live wrote: »

.

If they were all back then i would look at lepto vaccine as an insurance policy and there is little you can do for the one year in 10 with heat stress.

What's lepto vaccine costing, any harm to ask you mahony what vaccines cost /cow/yr?

moy83

blue5000 wrote: »

All the other cows are descended from him. The bollix managed to serve one of his daughters in august

I kinda gave up on ai'ing cows last year and the father would seldom watch them for bulling so I was expecting a load of empties this year but lo and behold a weanling bull ( or three !) that weren't squeezed properly bulled everything that moved , even a few pets of cows the father had that didn't give him a calf in at least two years are after calving !
I can only put it down to randy young weanlings and I threw out a saucepan of seaweed meal to them in the shed over the winter

merryberry

I often thought that the person who invents a semen bolus, that can be inserted into the cow, and releases on the onset of heat would solve alot of problems.

moy83

merryberry wrote: »

I often thought that the person who invents a semen bolus, that can be inserted into the cow, and releases on the onset of heat would solve alot of problems.

If he could tweak a cow to calf twice a year it would help alot of suckler farmers too !

Muckit

tanko wrote: »

Same story here, cows/heifers just didn't come bulling in May last year. Come June 5th they came in a clatter.

The change in the diet and weather brought the cows on.

I see in the journal that they are saying beef births are on the up now after they running it on front page in Feb/March that they were back. Apes

whelan2

blue5000 wrote: »

What's lepto vaccine costing, any harm to ask you mahony what vaccines cost /cow/yr?

when i priced it was 3euro/cow for leptovoid and 1.75/cow for spirovac

rangler1

Muckit wrote: »

The change in the diet and weather brought the cows on.

I see in the journal that they are saying beef births are on the up now after they running it on front page in Feb/March that they were back. Apes

A lot of suckler farmers have later calving same as blue this year due to the poor spring and poor forage last year, so the early registration would have been down on the previous year

moy83

rangler1 wrote: »

A lot of suckler farmers have later calving same as blue this year due to the poor spring and poor forage last year, so the early registration would have been down on the previous year

Any tips on what lads are doing to get them in calf earlier this year to make up for the set back ?

5live

whelan2 wrote: »

when i priced it was 3euro/cow for leptovoid and 1.75/cow for spirovac

E2.36 for leptovoid and E1.96 for spirovac in 25 dose bottles from Buyrite

tanko

moy83 wrote: »

Any tips on what lads are doing to get them in calf earlier this year to make up for the set back ?

Plenty of grass and sunshine work wonders to get cows bulling. At least we have the grass this year. Thin cows won't go in calf too quick. You could get cows scanned to identify problem cows. Bulls can be semen tested for €75 euro, but this is best done two months before the bull is let out. If using Ai good heat detection is crucial.

mahoney_j

whelan2 wrote: »

when i priced it was 3euro/cow for leptovoid and 1.75/cow for spirovac

For Bvd,lepto,salmonella and Ibr plus mineral bonus for heifers it's working out around 35 euro a head.soubds expensive and it is but long calving season,repeats and vets visits would cost a lot more.just looking back through vet recepits last year,there was 4 calls to tend to ainmsls,clean out3 cows ,one calving ,one cow who just stopped milking (dodgy heart died later) and a groggy calf
Also vaccinate all calves with bovipast for pneumonia .12.50 per calf(2 shots)

rangler1

tanko wrote: »

Plenty of grass and sunshine work wonders to get cows bulling. At least we have the grass this year. Thin cows won't go in calf too quick. You could get cows scanned to identify problem cows. Bulls can be semen tested for €75 euro, but this is best done two months before the bull is let out. If using Ai good heat detection is crucial.

Agreed, cows will surely gain time with the grass growth we've had this year. testing the bull is a great idea....save any surprises.
Always had only one bull here with 45 - 50 cows when I had sucklers

Miname

pull the bull, scan early and feed on the cows and have them gone before the glut, done this last year and bought incalf cows, before the sfp came out and actually came out with 8 sucklers for what i got for 6 sold as culls. Theres no place for late calvers or empties in any suckler herd. as someone else mentioned already, seaweed, great stuff.