Low in-calf rates cost farmers thousands

There were corners cut during the low payout seasons - farmers weren't spending on things like heat detection and it's caught up with them now with calving being spread out. Stephen Hopkinson

The poor reproductive performance of New Zealand’s dairy herd is costing farmers tens of thousands of dollars every year.

Low six-week in-calf rates and high empty rates were costing the average Taranaki dairy farmer almost $40,000 a year but the issue was nationwide, Taranaki Veterinary Centre chief executive Stephen Hopkinson said.

‘‘The six-week in-calf rate is getting worse everywhere,’’ he said.

‘‘There was a five or six year period where it stabilised and it looked like we were getting back on track but with the low payout, we went backwards.

‘‘We’re back to where we were and we’ve lost those five or six years of reproductive work.’’

Nationally, the top 25 per cent of farmers were achieving an average six-week in-calf rate of 78 per cent but the average was about 65 per cent, Hopkinson said.

In Taranaki, the top 25 per cent averaged a 75 per cent six-week incalf rate while the bottom 25 per cent had an average of 60 per cent.

Because they were affected by mating length, empty rates were more difficult to compare between farms, Hopkinson said.

However, the top 25 per cent nationwide were generally achieving 6 per cent or lower after 12 weeks of mating.

In Taranaki, the average among the top 25 per cent was 13 per cent, the middle 50 per cent of farmers achieved a 15 per cent empty rate and the bottom 25 per cent recorded 18 per cent empty. The statistics and their financial implications showed how important it was for farmers to focus on the core aspects of reproduction, Hopkinson said.

‘‘There were corners cut during the low payout seasons - farmers weren’t spending on things like heat detection - and it’s caught up with them now with calving being spread out,’’ he said.

‘‘The average Taranaki farmer is losing $39,600 through a low sixweek in-calf rate and high empty rate but they might only have to spend $10,000 to fix it.’’

To help farmers plan for mating, TVC would run three seminars in the region next month, covering reproductive benchmarking, heat detection, non-cycler management and body condition scoring, Hopkinson said.

BCS at calving was a crucial factor in the six-week in-calf rate and should be 5 for cows and 5.5 for heifers, he said.

The BCS should not fall more than 1 after calving. Using premating tail paint gave farmers time to determine and manage the number of non-cycling cows in a herd. Hormone treatment was the most economic method of dealing with those cows.