Reports Joshua Herbes, Yield Marketing.
Conception rates are everything when it comes to the profitability of your dairy herd. Four years ago, Noel and Lorraine Fox began using Sexed Semen to ensure their replacements came from their best cows, but it was the discovery of the electric cat blanket that helped achieve a 75% in calf rate with their Sexed Semen last season.
Noel is incredibly passionate about his herd's genetics and spends most evenings pouring over various genetics catalogues, comparing data and searching for the best team of sires for his herd.
Having sharemilked 180 cows for 28 years here and shifting into farm ownership just four years ago, Noel has been working on this herd for over 30 years and knows how to breed good cattle.
Noel doesn't restrict himself to one genetics company but over the last three years, notes that he has been using mostly overseas genetics in his herd to get better udders and the large majority of sires he has selected have been coming from Samen NZ.
Having spoken to many other farmers around the district, Noel is seeing many farmers getting better cattle from overseas genetics and is excited to see that these overseas genetics are too now getting high Breeding Worths (BWs).
"Last year one of Samen NZ's bulls had a BW of -1 or something like that and is now over 600BW. That gives me confidence that overseas genetics can do it. I don't want big tall cows, I want those medium-stature capacity cows and that is what I am getting with Ernst's (breeding consultant) help". said Noel
With the use of both Sexed and Conventional semen during mating, Noel is producing more heifers from his top cows giving himself the ability to select from only the best heifers.
Notably last year Noel sold aline of overseas genetic heifers and saw great demand for them. It's not an issue now to sell them anymore because people are now wanting overseas genetics.
Noel has used Sexed Semen four years in a row now. The first year he got fantastic results, but in the second year his results were not so desirable, the difference? Management
Noel said, the difference between getting a 75% conception rate with Sexed Semen and a 50% conception rate essentially came down to my care and attention when handling the straws.
Noel has successfully incorporated top genetics into his breeding program using bulls from Samen NZ. His selected sires include:
• BOMAZ MONUMENT-P-ET • BOMAZ PERFECT-P-ET • BOMAZ ANZAC-PP-ET • WINSTARESTRADA-PP-ET • BOMAZ PACKER-PP-ET
During their third year of using Sexed Semen the electric cat blanket came into play. Having seen the difference in conception rates between year one and two, Noel knew it came down to his handling and went in search of an AI Gun Warmer.
Unfortunately, it was getting close to mating season and these tools at the time were sold out everywhere. What was he going to do to make sure he got good conception rates with his sexed semen?
One cold morning, Noel headed down to the shed. Lorraine, well known for being a big fan of her cats had purchased two electric cat beds for her two elderly cats. When Noel saw the cat bed curiosity hit him, what temperature do those things run at? Body temperature?
Noel grabbed his thermometer, rolled the cat bed up and tested its temperature, 36 degrees! Concerned about the electric current, Noel decided to roll a towel into the electric cat bed & sleeve the straws to further protect them from lint of the towel and stuck them in the rolled-up cat bed.
Because the bank was too heavy to carry out the AB Race, Noel opted for this makeshift method, ensuring better semen handling during mating.
Noel continued to monitor the cat bed's temperature to ensure it was consistent and used it all season achieving a 75% conception rate with his Sexed Semen, a 6 week in calf rate of83% and an Empty Rate of 7%.
Additionally, CowManager contributed to the correct timing, further supporting successful conception rates.
While we don't recommend people rush out and purchase electric cat beds for this year's mating season, the morale of this story is that handling has a massive impact on conception rates and farmers looking to achieve better results at mating time should evaluate their semen handling strategy.
For more information about handling or building a better herd with overseas genetics, get in touch with your local Samen NZ representative today.
