Poor fertility leads to higher costs for dairy farmers
FARM Vet Services held a well attended talk on dairy cow fertility in Corick House Hotel, Clogher recently.
Among the speakers were FVS vets, Patrick Finnegan, Stephen Hazelton, and Jason Graham.
The talk began with Clogher veterinary surgeon, Patrick, describing how to measure submission rate, conception rate and pregnancy rate and how they applied to an everyday farm setting.
Next, he went on to put into real terms how much a drop in fertility cost the farmers on the ground. This was received with interest as he outlined how data showed a £5 a day loss on each cow which went empty beyond the farm’s targets. Additionally, this data was dated and didn’t reflect the recent upwards trend in milk price.
The talk moved on to heat detection with a well-illustrated set of examples for the pros and cons of visual detection, rump marking and electronic pedometers.
Speaking next was Brookeborough Veterinary surgeon, Stephen, who gave an in-depth technical overview of conception rates and the challenges which can face the transition cow.
Milk fever, ketosis, acidosis, and overall nutrition forming a vicious cycle in the worst scenarios to reduce a cow’s ability to maintain pregnancies and indeed milk well.
Jason Graham from Lisbellaw and Drumgoon Dairies, was next to speak, giving an interesting real-world example, from a farm he oversees as a vet and what a well-managed fertility programme can achieve.
Pregnancy rates of over 25 per cent and calving intervals of 365 days and less were quoted and nobody in the audience was left in doubt as to the potential gains.
Lastly Patrick returned to the spotlight to give an overview of what a fertility visit consists of with Farm Vet Services.
He showed that a particular emphasis was placed on non-bulling cows and fresh checks of recently calved cows.
Also around the corner for Farm Vet Services is an embryo flushing and transfer service with a “Stopper cow” programme for dairy cows which are more difficult to get in calf.
The talk concluded with a question-and-answer session with a lively back and forth debate between the three veterinary surgeons and the audience.
The level of engagement spoke to the quality of the information and the excellent standard of the talk on the day.
The team left a friendly and approachable impression on all and are open to enquiries or questions from any interested parties.
They can be contacted at their office beside Clogher Mart or by phoning 02885569117.