Average no. of lactations had very little correlation to profitability in the be benchmarking/discussion group I used to be involved with.
In an ideal world I'd definitely rather a positive fertility bull but its not a breaking point for me - especially on a genomic bull, not sure I would use a negative proven bull
My advice would be - do it.@Holsteinfriesian90
So from the above, you gonna send your friesian semen back and order up some altaseverus instead?
Canada holsteins 1.9 lactation average I believe
i wonder if it's plateaued now? Some superb fertility figures in a lot of pure holstein herds now, it was generally not the case 10-15 years ago, I suspect genetics and management have playted a part whereas some thought crossbreeding was the answer - it probably was a quick fix. I have never been a fan of inbreeding and that's where a lot of "pedigree" breeders came unstuck - seen plenty of cows in dispersal saes that had regular long holidays! Using breeding software has been a big plus to avoid inbreeding - the days of a few straws from every rep have moved on thank God.
that is a sweeping statement...there is a sweet spot for culling - i.e. just before their productivity drops or their value plummets. Rather have a younger fitter healthier herd than a load of old girls there for the sake of "longevity". Block calving herds only seem to have old cows that have got pregnant and been productive and troublefree, easy to slip into habit of just keeping cows in an AYR situation
we block calve, and we have kept odd cows right round, if they are producing the milk, 1 old girl, 09 born, 19,000 litres in 24 months, that's ok.
well done, I think more AYR herds have got a better focus than in past, and block calving focuses the mind - for you guys, a cow only stays if she is pregnant or productive or both, not just because it would be nice to get a heifer off her
On what Ayr or block calving
The figure banded around here is 18% replacement rate so that sits about right on that table, striving for the maximum number of 3,4 and 5th lactation cows driving production but still enough heifers coming through to keep the genetic gain going and not having to keep them too old.
That’s the key isn’t it not having too many over 7 calves 8 plus always seem to require extra care with reduced yields
Oldest is a 9th here at the moment, I’ve not served her this time as shes looking like she's going a bit arthritic but Interestingly her 8th lactation was the best of her life although we were throwing the feed around last year a little more than normal.
I saw the figure through AHDB, I'd imagine ayr but wouldn't know for sure. Should be fairly easily found with the reference in the corner of the image.
Of course the dreaded TB can completely screw this up
cheque in the post, l hope.
