Farmers concerned about cow fertility
The lack of sun is curbing the mating instincts of dairy cows and Manawatu¯ /Rangitı¯kei farmers expect fertility levels will be lower than normal.
While mating hasn’t started, farmers are keeping an eye on cows and have found fewer than usual are cycling because of cool and cloudy weather.
Cow fertility levels were discussed among about 45 farmers and a handful of rural professionals during a dairy discussion day for the Foxton group in Horowhenua at Simon Easton’s farm.
Easton said rain had taken a toll on people and animals with only two thirds of his cows cycling and numbers would usually be higher at this stage.
‘‘The impact on non-cycling numbers is from the cold weather and lack of sunshine. Cows, like people need vitamin D.’’
He hoped more cows would be cycling by the time mating started on October 19.
Easton said water was still lying on about one tenth of the farm.
‘‘Crops will go in later than expected, as a result of water lying on fields which are to go into turnips.’’
He said his cows were at peak milk production at the moment and he hoped it would last three to six weeks.
Most farmers had a handful of cows still to calve,
‘‘We had six due last week, but they are hanging on.’’
Easton has an 860 cow herd of spring calvers and about 200 autumn calvers, which were milked through winter.
‘‘When we calved, we had a good run. It was wet, and we had to put on wet weather gear to go out.’’
Easton said he lost five cows through theileria and calving issues.
The farm has a sandy base below the topsoil on hills and gullies as well as some flat land.
‘‘It is not an easy farm as it’s not uniform like some farms and it’s hard to get everything right.’’
He had a separate mob of 205 heifers which were on once-a-day milking to help prepare them for mating.
Easton said he used sexed semen for his high producing cows.
LIC said there was only an eight breeding worth (BW) points difference between fresh semen and frozen semen.
The genetic company’s Premier Sires (frozen) daughter-proven team averaged 183 BW points while the sexed semen (which has to be fresh) team has a BW of 175 points.
But they said demand was high for fresh semen and the technology was being advanced.
Federated Farmers Manawatu¯ / Rangitı¯kei sharemilker chairman Richard Mcintyre said it was still wet on farms with surface water still in most paddocks.
‘‘Balance date [when pasture meets cow consumption] is roughly two weeks later than normal. Palm kernel (PKE) orders were out to two weeks, which shows that dairy farmers throughout the North Island are using PKE to fill the gap.’’
He said people would normally start to put crops in, but the weather and ground conditions were not allowing this. Like most dairy farmers he was hoping for some better October weather.
‘‘Some warm sunny days would certainly help the cows to cycle.’’