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50. “We then aim to serve any cows seen bulling and generally get 70-80% of cows on the pre-sync programme without needing to go on to ov-sync.” These though aren’t the measures that Tom worries about excessively, as pregnancy rate is his headline target. “Calving interval and the number of services required to get cows in calf are interesting measures, but when it comes down to it calving interval is far too historic, it reflects how good fertility was last year, for some of the herd, not what is happening now.
“With pregnancy rate you know exactly what’s happening on the spot and can adjust as needs be. I want to know that we’re hitting realistic targets that leave a profit. By concentrating on pregnancy rate we are looking at data which is only nine weeks old.”
And, with that in mind Tom targets a pregnancy rate of 24%, with the herd currently averaging nearer 28% of eligible cows in calf in a 21-day block. “A lot of the American data suggests that until pregnancy rate hits 24% you’re losing money as cows aren’t getting
back in calf soon enough. Getting cows in calf sooner means they are back in the milking herd sooner giving you a larger proportion of cows at peak lactation. This means more milk sold per cow which is the real driver for us” Relying on Presync-Ovsync may not suit everyone, but Tom says since growing the herd over the last 10 years it has been important to have a system in place to ensure cows get back in calf. “When you’re operating on this scale you really do have to be on top of fertility and for us there is no better way of doing it. “The beauty of it is that we know by the end of the first cycle every cow should have been served. We synchronise in weekly blocks, so one day a week is an ov-sync starting day, with this also coinciding with our vet day so any negative PDs can be enrolled on the program also.” Tom says the aim is simply to stack all the numbers in his favour when it comes to fertility and give cows the best possible chance of getting in calf. “When it comes down to it cows can only get in calf if they get
Cows are averaging 12,800kg on three times a day milking.
served, so for me its essential to get as many cows served as soon as possible after the waiting period.”
He admits this desire for simple systems has been extended across herd management, with all cows housed on sand cubicles and one ration fed to all milking cows.
“The milking ration is aimed at an average of 38-39 litres, consisting of maize silage, grass silage, whole-crop wheat, brewers grains, caustic wheat, rapemeal and hipro molasses.” Herd management is in the hands of Tom, his father and herdsman Mike Ball.
Milking, feeding, yard work and calf rearing is then carried out by a team of Polish workers: Daniel Saferna, Slawomir Piekarski, Jerzy Utrata, Jaroslaw Grajewski, Jakub Kedziora, Marek Skowrou and Piotr and Katarzyna Lyson running on two shifts.
“
The herd is on three times a day milking, with
The TMR ration consists of maize silage, grass silage, whole-crop wheat, brewers grains, caustic wheat, rape meal and hipro molasses.
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