TARGETING THE EMPTY COW

Matthew Pugh MRCVS & Bill Main MRCVS

Fertility Issues - National Trends

Increasing Yields Extended calving Intervals Poor conception rates Reduced heat expression High barren rates

Is this true on our farms?

Average Lactation Yield Increased from 9000 litres to 10500 litres

The net result of genetic improvement and better feeding

Milk Sold Per Cow / Year - only up 500 litres !

Less or equal amounts of milk being produced per cow in a year

despite her total lactation yield going up.

Calving Interval 410 – 430 days

Cows are getting pregnant over a longer period of time, milk yield is declining in late lactation and the end result is a reduction in milk sold per cow as cows are less productive.

Average Days Dry – average 70 days but look at the range!!!!!

The best example of this is an extra 10 days dry. At what cost to your pocket?

100 day in % Calf Rate 100days + 282 days – 382 CI

Only ~ 40 % of the cows in our NMR recorded herds are getting pregnant by 100 days. Why?

Is it a failure to see them in heat or poor conception rates ?

Combination of both factors.

The End results - Culling for failure to get in Calf National average 17% Target 6%

TB!!!!!!

Extremes in GB Dairying

Holstein Best Worst Mean

< = 100 cows 6.32 2.29 3.67

> 100 and < 200 cows

5.12 2.1 3.21

< 200 and < 300 cows

4.25 2.54 3.14

> 300 cows 4.04 1.98 2.97

Average lactation number: Jan 2006

Source: NMR KPI system

As You all know already your working harder!Trend in labour input per cow

Herd Size

10 – 40 41 - 70 70 - 100 101 - 150

150

Direct labour cost per cow

2002-03 62.90 41.10 35.00 27.30 24.70

Direct labour cost per cow

1996-97 62.20 45.30 35.20 31.90 27.20

Labour hours per 1000 litres

2002-03 12.24 6.73 4.86 3.98 3.29

Labour hours per 1000 litres

1996-97 11.52 8.24 5.93 5.21 4.31

Source: Colman, Farrar, Zhuang

Productivity, milk quality and fertility: A Summary

• Herd size and yields

• Milk quality and fertility

or no change• PROFITABILITY

Why 365 days?

Milk per cow per year

Optimal Calving Interval - 365 vs 400days?

Example herd – Extended Calving – 1st service and decreasing conception rates

They have lost 1000 litres /cow of their bottom line!

The Costs of Infertility – Lost milk

6000 litres / 305 days

10000 / litres 305 days

% Yield Drop

Per Month

~ 10.5% ~ 6.5%

Cost per Day’s delay

£2.50 £1.90

2002 – daisy costing

Fertility Yardsticks

Calving interval 410 days (target 365)

•Failure to conceive cull rate of 17% (target 6%)

•Serves per conception of 2.5 (target 1.8)

* National figures from Esslemont & Kossaibatti 2002

What is the overall financial impact of infertility?

Semen / AI Cost Calf crop – exports????Lost Milk

DIRECT COSTS OF REDUCED FERTILITY

Replacement ‘cull’ cost

Value of a replacement heifer

Costs of sub-fertility – 100 cow BVC herd

Days empty : £1.90/ day CI 430

430-365=65 x 1.90 x 100 = £12350

Replacement cost: £600 11 culls FTC

17% - 6% = 11cows @ 600 = £6,600

Service cost: £15 2.5 services / Conception

2.5 – 1.8 = 0.7serves @ 15 = £1,050

Cost for 100 cow herd = £20,000

The economics of sub-fertility

Divide the £20,000 through a quota of 800,000 litres (100cows @ 8000litres sold /cow /year BVC average)

Fertility cost to our average dairy farm equates to 2.5 pence per litre!

The Economics of sub fertility Accept 400 day CI is target ?????? Days empty : £1.90/ day CI 430 430-400=30 x 1.90 x 100 = £5700

Replacement cost: £600 11 culls FTC 17% - 6% = 11cows @ 600 = £6,600

Service cost: £15 2.5 services / Conception 2.5 – 1.8 = 0.7serves @ 15 = £1,050

Cost for 100 cow herd = £13335 or 1.67p.p.l.

So what are we seeing on Farm?

Declining Conception Rates

0

50

100

150

200

Yield

Preg ratecows

Preg rateheifers

Sub Oestrus Cows Traditional Fresian – 30 years ago Standing Oestrus lasted 15 hours and each cow averaged ~ 50

mounts

Modern Holstein Standing oestrus last only ~ 7 hours and manages only 8-9 mounts More “inappropriate” behaviour – stale follicles which do not ovulate

so cows show no heat and also cystic ovaries. Most cows are cycling either silently or are not being observed, Dutch Study – 32% of cows that ovulated never showed a

standing heat Net result cows are inseminated on secondary bulling signs –

chin resting / bellowing etc. Conception rate suffers as the semen has died if the cow is AI

along time ahead of ovulation.

What can we do about it ?

How can we improve our conception rates and our heat detection rates.

Improving Herd Performance

Records & Analysis

Heat DetectionConception Rate

Fertility Management – Recording and Analysis

What is the current situation?

Returns identified quickly Disaster!

The effect of a hard weekend?

We can see improvements.

Heat Detection

100 day in calf rate The impact of better heat detection

100 Cows Farm A Farm B

Conception Rate 50% 50%

Heat detection

Rate

50% 75%

Day 50 – 70

1st service period

50

25

75

37

70 – 90

2nd service period

38

19

48

24

90 – 100

½ 3rd service period

14

7

20

10

Number Pregnant at 100 days

Number Empty

51

49

71

29

Seen in heat

Number pregnant

Number of Mounts in relation to Number of Cows in Heat

Diskin & Others 2002

Number Of Cows In Oestrus

Duration of standing heat (hours)

Number of Mounts per Cow

1 8 13

2 12 17

3 14 31

4 15 29

5 15 38

When do Cows Show Heat ?Time Percent of Cows in Heat

6 am – noon 22%

Noon – 6pm 10%

6pm – midnight 25%

Midnight – 6am 43%

Cornell University study

Action lists: Targeted surveillanceSpend time with the CowsTime: 20min dedicated 3 x day

Aids to heat detection Freeze Brands Tail Paint Kamars Teaser Bulls Pedometers Progesterone testing - MOIRA

Oestrus Scoring - Cow reaches 50 points in a 24 hour period - Heat

Sign Points Score

Clear vulval slime 3

Bellowing, butting & restlessness 5

Sniffing or licking vagina 10

Being mounted and walking off 10

Chin resting on another cow 15

Mounting other cows or attempting 35

Head mounting another cow 45

Standing Heat 100

The “Teaser Bull”

Herd A – struggling to detect returns

Results

80%-90% PD+ at pregnancy diagnosis previously 50-60% PD+.

Conception Rate – still national average 40% Block Calving Herd – stops autumn calving cows

becoming spring calving cows !

Planning Get everyone on the farm involved. Set time aside to watch your cows. The evening check is

the most important – 3 x 30 minutes. Make use of heat detection aids: Cows 45 days calved. Kamar / tail paint cows 10 days post AI – help detect

returns Make sure that cows not seen in heat are cycling. “ONOs” – cows not seen in heat by day 60. Consider synchronisation of cows. Early pregnancy diagnosis – identifies the non pregnant

cow and gets her served again quickly.

Thank you to James Hawkins & Dave Evans