Planning and implementing a breeding season

A ccording to Prof Frikkie Neser of the Department of Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences on the University of the Free State, the basics for cattle and sheep farming are the identical: you want a predetermined and fastened timeframe for breeding.

Using this as a reference level, you possibly can then develop a strategic feeding and well being programme to enrich it. However, it’s essential to have management over the place your bulls or rams are at any given time.

“Before you can play around with different breeding techniques, you first have to put a proper breeding season strategy in place,” he says.

In order to develop a breeding season technique, you need to first resolve when mating will happen. As a normal rule, the very best time for that is a month earlier than the rain begins. Also, heifers ought to be mated a month earlier than cows, as they have an inclination to take longer to get well.

Neser says it’s good apply to mate your second-year heifers individually from the older cows, because the cows have a tendency to maintain the bulls for themselves.

You ought to attempt to maintain the mating season inside a three-month interval, says Neser, as
this enhances uniformity in all of the later improvement phases. In summer season rainfall areas, this implies it is best to purpose for a mating season that commences round 15 November for heifers, and 15 December for cows.

Breeding economics
If all goes nicely in the course of the mating season, about 60% of calves are born inside the first
30 days of the calving season. This is nice, because it permits extra time for the cows to get well, and calves will thus be heavier at weaning. The 60% rule can be a good test to see if there are any underlying points that want consideration.

It is essential to pay shut consideration to the dietary necessities of your animals all year long, however that is notably essential throughout mating and calving.

All farms differ when it comes to rainfall, temperature, topography, veld composition and accessible meals sources, however the issues for South African inventory farmers usually happen in late winter when the dietary worth of pure veld is at its lowest.

You can handle this by offering cattle with a protein lick along with strategic power dietary supplements. During sizzling summer season months, a phosphate lick is a good addition to pure grazing.

It can be essential to grasp the implications of managing your breeding season to coincide with pure availability of grazing, or the absence thereof. Neser explains that in case you schedule the breeding season with the intention to calve in spring, your herd will profit from the supply of grazing all through the approaching summer season months in summer season rainfall areas.

A 2012 research carried out by Johan Mouton, supervisor of analysis and improvement for ruminants at RCL Foods, confirmed a 4,3% curiosity on capital for such a technique on a beef cattle farm. In distinction to this, solely a 2,7% curiosity on capital is realised if calving takes place in autumn.

Neser doesn’t suggest winter calving for in depth livestock farming, however says that farmers might have a second calving season in winter for varied causes.

“Some farmers might implement a calving season throughout winter to provide a cow a second probability if she didn’t take in the course of the preliminary breeding season, or to benefit from probably increased weaner costs in summer season.

“If you might be planning to calve in winter, pay very shut consideration to the situation of your cows, and have extra meals accessible to complement their food plan if their situation rating drops to 2,5.

“A condition score must be allocated to each animal on the basis of its fat and muscle covering, with a score awarded on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very thin, and 5 is overweight. Also, according to the work done by Mouton, the weaner prices [in summer] need to be at least 26% higher in order for this strategy to make financial sense,” says Neser.

The situation of animals going into the breeding season is essential. Heifers ought to be at 60% to 65% of their mature weight in the beginning of the breeding season, and cows ought to have a situation rating of three,5 in the beginning of the breeding season.

“At a score of 3,5, a cow is not too lean and not too fat,” he says.

Benefits of a deliberate breeding season
“If stock farmers manage the breeding season properly, there are several management and financial advantages to unlock,” says Neser.

First, animal well being is less complicated to handle via inoculation and disease-control programmes. In-calf animals usually want totally different remedies in contrast with open animals, and totally different improvement phases require totally different well being, strategic supplementary feeding, and lick programmes.

If the breeding season has been synchronised into a brief timeframe, the herd will probably be extra uniform, permitting for simpler remedies. It additionally makes it potential to think about extra choices to handle points which may come up.

Second, a outlined breeding season will lead to a bigger, extra uniform group of calves. This enhances the choices and means to barter higher costs when advertising and marketing the animals.

At the identical time, you’ll have a bigger group of open culled cows to market. This can enhance your money stream.

Taking care of bulls
Bull administration is prime to a profitable breeding season technique. Neser says that a widespread mistake farmers make is to purchase bulls in and then put them to work instantly.

“You need to remember that transport and adapting to a new location is stressful and might result in a loss of fertility for the bull,” says Neser.

Spermatogenesis takes about six weeks, so permit your new bull to be on the farm for at the least two months earlier than the breeding season begins. It can be essential that bulls purchased at auctions or from stud farms be exercised recurrently to make sure they’re match. In order to get probably the most from a bull, it must be in prime bodily situation. This means a situation rating of three,5 to 4 in the beginning of the breeding season.

If you may have deliberate for the breeding season, you possibly can handle the bull’s food plan and train regime to coincide with this. It is essential to check a bull’s fertility earlier than, and in the course of, the breeding season, says Neser. You also needs to check and inoculate your bull for venereal illnesses as a part of your well being technique.

“Having a top bull and watching it mount cows from a distance is not good enough,” he cautions.

You must be sure that the bull can mount and penetrate the cow’s vulva efficiently.

“It has happened that a farmer might discover a bull has a damaged or broken penis when it is too late because of a failure to pay close attention during the breeding season.”

You even have to observe the breeding herd recurrently with the intention to establish lazy bulls. You also needs to be careful for bulls that present drastic weight reduction in the course of the breeding season, as they must be changed or handled for well being points, he provides.

Speeding up herd enchancment
In order to get the very best outcomes, conduct being pregnant assessments two to a few months after the bulls are faraway from the herd.

“I recommend that heifers [that didn’t conceive] be culled immediately, as there is no good reason for them to not be in calf. With open cows, you need to consider that they will only give you returns in another 15 months’ time, so if you decide to keep them, be sure your reasoning is based on sound logic and their history,” says Neser.

A well-managed breeding season additionally holds the potential for the farmer to enhance the genetics of a herd. Because calves are born in a outlined time period, they’re of a uniform age. There are fewer corrections to make, and extra correct breeding values can thus be obtained.

It additionally means that you could now be extra particular when choosing for fertility as you possibly can receive days-to-calving breeding values, and it’s a lot simpler to handle the age at which maiden heifers are mated.

These elements help you in figuring out which cows are much less fertile, and which of them are strategic to a longer-term breeding technique.

Email Prof Frikkie Neser at [email protected].