March 13, 2021 1:00 pm
A recent report by George Ramsbottom, a dairy specialist with Teagasc based in Oak Park, Co. Carlow, outlined that almost 390,000 dairy cows (more than one-quarter of spring-calving Irish dairy cows) calved later than April 1 in 2019 and 2020.
George started the report by stating that ”what’s worse is that almost as many calved in May and June as in April”.
”It is challenging enough to breed an April-calving in the first three weeks of the breeding season, and impossible if she calves in May or June.”
Does it matter?
”Absolutely, because achieving a high level of reproductive efficiency in the dairy herd underpins profitability of grass-based milk production,” George said.
January 24, 2021 1:00 pm
At the recent Teagasc once-a-day (OAD) milking conference, Dr. Nick Sneddon from New Zealand spoke about the established OAD research milking herd in Massey university.
Nick works with Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest milk processor. He reviewed the milk production and reproductive performance of New Zealand dairy herds that are being milked OAD or twice-a-day (TAD).
Cow type, particularly udder conformation and capacity, are of particular relevance to OAD herds. Dr. Sneddon shared the results of his research into the importance of conformation when breeding cows suitable for OAD milking.
Herd Overview
Dr. Sneddon works alongside the Massey University OAD milking herd which was started in 2013. The herd operates a spring-calving system and is currently milking 257 cows.