1. B W Costar Ltd Reproduction in our herd
We currently milk 300 fresian cows on 115 effective heactares in Onewhero, 20 minutes south west of Pukekohe.
Herd has a BW of 145 and PW of 148, and are in the top 5% for fresian herds nationally for BW.
Managing reproduction in a straight fresian herd has it’s challenges.
With a herd live weight of 530kg feeding plays an important part of the solution however it is certainly not the only factor.

2. Reproductive Results 2007-2009
Having accurate data is essential for making sound and robust management decisions, as is ensuring the right people are sitting around the table making decisions.
In our case our vet – Jason Fayers of Franklin Vets was an integral part of managing repro and giving advice when we were implementing our mating plan. We use Minda Pro for all record keeping – calvings, health issues including lameness and mastitis and pre mating heats.

3. DairyNZ Incalf Programme Economics of Repro Performance Tool
Analysing the herd’s reproductive performance using the Incalf Economics of Repro Performance Tool showed us, based on a $5.50 payout, that we were losing $51600 annually, with a 55% 6 week in calf rate and an 18% empty rate
The following year was even worse with a 64% 6 week in calf rate, 23% empty and a cost of $85800.
Further analysis showed our heifers were not performing with low production and poor reproduction results, regardless of the fact that they were in the top 5% nationally for BW.
Second calvers were our worst group for repro performance and we were losing valuable young animals because they were empty.
Another significant cost to the business.

4. Our Reproductive Planning Wheel
The reproductive vision we have for our herd is simple:
To achieve optimum days in milk
To have a condensed calving period – 10 weeks
To meet or exceed all industry targets set on the Fertility Focus report AND
To have happy healthy cows with minimum reproductive intervention.
To achieve this we identified 6 focus areas – Nutrition, Premating heats, the 6 week in calf rate, mating length, empty rate, and quality of the herd. We set goals, measures and actions for each focus area and monitor performance regularly.
Mating length has been a real focus for us.
In the season we had a 16 week calving spread, which was a nightmare.
Having a condensed calving period is very important to us for a number of reasons – late calves are much harder to rear to liveweight targets and we want optimum days in milk, to maximise pre Christmas production.
It also gives any later calvers time to cycle before the start of mating.
Our calving spread for this season will be 9 weeks and 4 days.
Our last calf is due on Sept 12th.
In the and seasons we were still calving a month after the start of mating and from a workload point of view it put a considerable amount of pressure on us, and we had less time to focus on getting mating right.
This significant reduction in calving spread has been achieved by obviously increasing our 6 week in calf rate but also by using short gestation straws in the last three weeks of mating

5. DAIRYNZ - Table for Body Condition Score Gain
Table to Calculate Value of Feeding Supplements to Dry Cows for Condition Score (CS) Gain
Cow Liveweight
530
kg lwt
Kg liveweight per BCS 35 kg
Cost per Unit Feed
Unit of Feed
KgDM/ Unit feed
Feed Cost per ton DM
Cost to feed out incl Labour$/tonne DM
Utilisation Incl losses in storage
c/kgDM Eaten
ME/kg DM
Kg DM Eaten/CS
Cost per CS gain
Nitrogen
$1.85
/kg N 8
$231 $0
90% 26
11.0
226
$58
Tapioca 25% PKE
$360
/tonne
900
$400
$30
85% 51
10.8
147
$74
PKE
$229
$254 33
128
$43
Maize Silage
$0.26
/kg DM 1
$260
$45 36
10.5
169
$61
Grazing
/week 70
$429 50
$114
Pasture Silage
$0.20
$200
$57
80% 32
166
$53
Baleage
$90
/bale
180
$500 62
$103
$120
$667 80
10.0
174
$140
Return per CS Gain (CS 4.0 to 5.0)
Milksolids 12
kg milk price of
$4.50
$54
Milksolids/CS: CS = 18 kgMS; CS = 15 kgMS; CS = 12.5 kg MS
Reproduction
(and milk production year 2)
$40
12 week mating
Return from CS Gain
$94
Will be higher if CS less than 4.0
© DairyNZ 2008
Disclaimer: DairyNZ endeavours to ensure that this calculator is accurate and current. However, DairyNZ accepts no liability for any error or omission in fact or the consequences of any actions taken pertaining from the results of the calculator.
It is hard to say when preparation for mating starts and finishes but for us, one of the most essential actions is to ensure Body Condition targets are met prior to calving.
Our cows are condition scored in autumn ( exact time depends on the season and cow condition but generally the drier the summer, the earlier we condition score) and dry off dates are set depending upon calving dates and body condition scores.
We factor in to the equation that the cows will not put any weight on in the last 30 days of pregnancy and how much maize silage we have available for weight gain.
Obviously with this seasons payout it is important to know what it is going to cost to put that BCS score back on because that to will influence the timing of drying off. On a low payout more financially viable to dry off earlier and use as much pasture as possible to gain weight
Using all this information dry off dates are set, in weekly batches, with the lightest and earliest calving cows dried off first and given preferential grazing and time on the feed pad.
Once dried off, cows are continually monitored for condition scores and moved from mob to mob if necessary.
We use a huge amount of DairyNZ resources for information, including the feed supplements for Dry Cow BCS gain.
We know that we need 165kg of maize, on top of maintenance, to add 1 Body Condition Score and that we can achieve this gain in one month as long as the cows have plenty of time after milkings on the feed pad.

6. Once Body Condition Score targets are reached the main focus is to ensure the cows are getting adequate maintenance feed, in the form of hay, silage and pasture, and to monitor pasture cover levels to ensure we are set up for calving time.
As mentioned earlier, feeding is vital for a successful mating season.
We use a number of measures to ensure we are getting feeding levels right.
Pasture metering is undertaken every fortnight and pasture residuals are monitored. We will top paddocks in front of the cows if necessary.
During spring we check the protein levels on the milk docket daily , with the aim of keeping the level above 3.4%.
If it does decrease to below this level, we immediately increase feed intakes, usually with maize silage.

7. No Bull Here! For the past 3 years we have used no bulls.
Demand and prices for fresian heifers for the export market has been strong so we have used sexed semen to generate more heifer calves.
Having no bulls also makes the farm a much safer place and there are far fewer fences to repair and posts to replace!
We use sexed semen for the first 5 weeks of mating – doing 5 cows each day for the first three weeks and then 2 cows per day for the next two weeks.
As sexed semen does have a lower conception rate we put rules around which cows it was used on.
Cows had to be between 4-8 years old, had a previous heat, and be in good health generally to mitigate the lower conception rate.
No cow is mated to sexed semen twice in one season.
For the first two years the conception rates were between 8-10% lower, however this year they were only 2% lower.

8. Embryo Transfer
In 2014 we started doing ET on our top 3 cows to maximise genetic gain. To minimise risk we ask LIC to inspects all cows we plan to use, for conformation and type and also agree on which sires to use.
The results were varied with of course, no surviving embryos from our best cow
We ended up with 5 calves – 3 bull calves and 2 heifers in total from the other 2 cows, plus each of the 3 cows then had their own calf to different sires.
As these 5 calves were a result of contract matings by LIC, the bull calves were tested and inspected by LIC for the sire proving program
Unfortunately, with only 200 bulls getting in nationally, ours did not make the grade this time, but fingers crossed for this season.
Pictured are our children’s calf club calves who are both form the same dam – Elizabeth ( the larger calf) is the result of ET and JoJo is the result of an AB mating to a different bull, once the embryos had been flushed.
Last mating seasons results are far more promising – with 7 calves due from 13 embryos, again flushed from our top two cows and one of their 4 year old daughters who has performed very well in her first two lactations.

9. Young stock – the future!
Another key focus area was the quality of the herd.
To get maximum genetic gain we AB our heifers with easy calving fresian straws for four weeks then they go out on the hill with two high BW recorded yearling jersey bulls.
It was pointless to go to the expense of AB’ing the heifers if they were not well grown and mature animals so to ensure heifers are reaching their target weights they are regularly weighed, and as calves are weaned on weight targets.
An added bonus of this is that they are very quiet once they come in to the milking shed as they are well handled.
We used LIC’s CustomMate program on the top 50% of heifers and the top 25% of the herd to maximise genetic gain and strengthen traits.
Our key criteria are protein, udders overall, fertility, and capacity.
Premier sires is used on the balance of the herd

10. Animal Health
The entire herd is vaccinated for BVD and any bulls purchased for the heifers are tested prior to arriving.
All replacement cows are bred on farm so other than 2 jersey bulls arriving each season our herd is effectively closed, reducing risks around disease
All cows are metrichecked, with the bulk being done by the end of August.
Cows are tail painted and premating heats are recorded in Minda for a month prior to mating.
We target premating heats of more than 70% for the herd 1 week before the planned start of mating.
Kmars are applied to all cows and heifers on day one of mating and then are reapplied as required.
Using no bulls means we need to be extra vigilant with heat detection and using Kmars does reduce the pressure at a busy time of year.

11. In summing up the repro management in our herd we believe we have made significant gains through using the expertise of our vet and the Incalf programme.
You will see from the graph that over the past 9 seasons :
3 week submission rates increased from 62% to 86%
6 week in calf rate increased from 55% to 72%
Empty rates have declined from 23% to 12%
Mating length has decreased from 16 weeks to 10 weeks
Cidr usage has reduced from between to around 20
An increase from around 220 days in milk to 285
We still believe that there are efficiencies to be gained, especially in the empty rate and 6 week in calf rate, which will be a key focus going forward.
Making significant improvements in reproductive performance takes time, good planning, accurate records and a focus on many facets of farming however there are benefits – financial and non financial which make it all worth while!

12. Questions?