Panning for the breeding season is underway on many dairy farms as we move through the month of March and head towards April.
The days of just using dairy genetics across all cows are very much over, with a significant focus now required on dairy-beef.
Sales in marts across the country show that Friesian bull calves, and even lower quality beef calves, are very much a tough sale.
It is also important to maximise the genetic gain of your replacement animals, whether you use the economic breeding index (EBI) or not, as a breeding tool.
Breeding
The best cows in your herd should be used to generate your replacement heifers, use the data available to you to select these animals.
The use of selective breeding will accelerate the rate of genetic gain within your herd.
When selecting dairy sires, each herd will have different criteria, but the main focuses should be on driving milk solids through percentages.
Select sires that have high fat and protein kilos and will improve the milk solids delivered from your herd.
Fertility is also something that needs to be looked at within many herds, and bulls should also be selected to improve this.
A focus should also be placed on health sub-index, no matter the system or creatirea for selection you need to start focusing on this sub-index.
We know that healthier cows remain in herds for longer and thus drive production.
We also know that improvements in bovine-TB, cell counts and more can be made by picking for health when selecting bulls.
Dairy-beef
As farmers finalise their preparations for the breeding season, it is important that you are also spending time selecting your beef sires.
Dairy-beef selection is becoming important for dairy farmers – ensuring that they are breeding a quality beef calf is crucial going forward.
Like using the EBI, the sub-index needs to be examined within the dairy beef index (DBI) and a balanced bull should be selected.
An easy calving bull is desired, but also a bull with good carcass performance to ensure that their in quality to the calf.
Speak with your breeding advisor about the bulls that are going to suit your cows best.
