Although we are only in January and the calving season is still yet to get underway, breeding preparation needs to begin, as the selection of straws and what cows need to be bred off must get underway.
Most artificial insemination (AI) companies have released their spring 2025 dairy directory catalogues, which means that these catalogues need to picked up and analysed to get the ball rolling for breeding 2025.
Farmers need to pick bulls that will suit their herd and ones that will improve and enhance genetic gain within the herd while also breeding calves that are easily sold with good beef qualities.
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 throughout 2024 show that Friesian bull calves, and even lower quality beef calves, are very much a tough sale.
Breeding
Getting the selection process underway now will give the farmer time to go through their milk recording data and individual cow performance.
Milk recording data should be thoroughly anlaysed now and followed by an early milk recording in spring which should begin to give the farmer assurance on which the best performing cows in the herd are.
The best cows in your herd should be used to generate your replacement heifers – use the data available to you to select these animals, as the use of selective breeding will accelerate the rate of genetic gain within your herd.
When selecting dairy sires, there will be a different criteria for each herd, 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 the next thing to be looking at, and bulls should also be selected to improve this as good fertility will improve the calving interval and therefore the number of days in milk which will improve the amount of milk produced a year.
The health sub-index should not be ignored as no matter the system or criteria for selection you need to start focusing on this sub-index, as healthier cows remain in herds for longer therefore drive production.
We also know that improvements in bovine-TB, cell counts and more, can be made by picking for health when selecting bulls.
Beef sires
While it is one thing, getting prepared in selecting for dairy replacements, farmers must not forget the importance of choosing quality beef sires.
Producing quality beef calves on the farm is more crucial than ever, as it will ensure the farmer gets the best price possible when selling the calves in spring.
For many farmers who are renting more land due to the nitrates derogation and banding, they are using this excess land to rear calves and using quality beef sires will ensure better growth rates and feed efficiency.
Farmers should be selecting an easy calving bull with a good carcass quality to ensure a quality calf on the ground.
Selecting for a shorter gestation is also very beneficial and could prove to be cost-effective as getting a cow in milk five days earlier in spring, e.g., will ensure five days of extra money coming from from milk collections.
All of these little factors have to be considered when selecting what straws you will use this May and what cows are being selected for dairy and for beef.
By starting this process early, farmers will get a better picture of what cows they are dealing with and what traits need to be improved in the herd.