Making better breeding decisions

A FERTILITY trait change by New Zealand Animal Evaluation Ltd (NZAEL) will provide more accurate information to dairy farmers and artificial breeding companies ahead of the next mating season.

The fertility trait change separates gestation length from fertility and creates a tenth trait to Breeding Worth (BW) – the index used to rank cows and bulls on their ability to efficiently convert feed into profit.

Released by NZAEL –the independent animal evaluation entity for dairy animals – the change makes gestation length (GL) a stand-alone trait, so it does not influence fertility estimated breeding value (EBV). It will also ensure farmers have more accurate information to make confident breeding decisions ahead of the next mating season.

“Part of NZAEL’s role is reflecting the fertility of animals as accurately as possible for farmers,” NZAEL manager Andrew Fear says.

“Fertility is an important trait for New Zealand dairy herds, given our seasonal pasture-based farm systems. The change is important to farmers, as it means we aren’t unintentionally selecting for gestation length.”

The change separat- ing gestation length from fertility is expected to be permanent.

“This is an example of the continuous improve- ments NZAEL is making,” Fear says.

“It’s important for farmers to make use of this change now, so they can confidently make good breeding decisions.”

The next fertility trait change is being developed. This will see

NZAEL move to a conception-based fertility trait, which means GL won’t influence conception dates to the same degree as the current fertility trait, which is based on calving dates.

“Shorter GL is economically beneficial for farmers,” Andrew says. “For example, it allows more days-in-milk and more time to recover between calving and the start of mating, but its value is lower than that of early conception date. Therefore, both traits should be valued independently when considering an animal’s breeding worth (BW).”

The change in overall BW will be minimal off the back of the current fertility trait change, but farmers may see a decrease of around 10 BW in bulls on the Ranking of Active Sires (RAS) list..

The NZAEL team and partner experts are working towards releasing the new trait in December 2023.

Sarah Woodley likes to run her shed with just one person all year-round. The farm manager is in her third season on the 118Ha Clandeboye farm in South Canterbury where she milks 420 predominantly Friesian cows through a 50-bail Rotary with two other full-time staff.

It’s a tightly run ship on the small dairy property that has been in the Woodley family for four generations. And, with good staff in short supply it’s also about building an enjoyable place to work day-to-day and sustaining that over the long term.

Sarah says her basic aim is to have two people working on farm and one person on a day off.

“In the mornings, one person will be up early to start at 4:30 a.m., and the next person will have a sleep in and be up at seven. No one is up for days on end at 4 o’clock in the morning.

“Obviously collars make that possible over mating.”

Four seasons ago, Mark Woodley, Sarah’s father and the farm owner, invested in collars when his long-term farm manager retired. Sarah was still finishing up on another contract. She returned to the home farm, and last season they changed to Datamars Livestock’s Tru-Test Active Collars.

“Dad and I do all the AI for 12 weeks.

We are doing AI twice a day. In the morning, we manually draft the cows we want to AI and leave those early ones for the afternoon. The system is identifying cows on heat, and picking silent heats that staff would miss because the cows are not bulling or showing any other signs. The collars are definitely doing their job.”

Sarah says the Active Collars make it easier for staff as well. The data gateway reads out to 1000m, or more in some instances, so data from the collars is uploaded for paddocks in range and as animals approach the shed. Even though the Woodley farm has high shelter belts on much of the property for shade and wind protection, this doesn’t compromise the upload speed and the data is available instantly when the Woodley’s herd comes in for milking.

“Everyone on the farm has instant access to a whole scope of heat and health information from the Datamars app...” sarah woodley

With the previous brand of collars, it wasn’t quite as simple.

“In the past, we had to get the cows in half an hour early in the morning just to get them to stand in the yard and wait for the data to download– which is not ideal for staff or cows.”

Now the focus is on milking. There’s no waiting and there’s no one needed up in the shed picking cows every day for 12 weeks. Everyone on the farm has instant access to a whole scope of heat and health information from the Datamars app, and if there’s any questions, Sarah says the back up support from the Datamars team is “awesome”.

“Dad is not overly computer-minded but he has the app on his phone and he is always on it to see what’s happening and who is on heat.”

“Our main find is early detection of calving issues, and when we have the vet out to look at a sick animal, they will view the health data to check rumination and all sorts. It has been very helpful.”

“We are generally very good at picking up mastitis. We strip a quarter a milking, so we are picking up anything early before an animal gets sick – but for farms that don’t do that, the collars would signal mastitis and lameness too.”

Over mating, Sarah is adamant that the Active Collars have saved the Woodleys a lot of time and money.

“We haven’t had to bring relief staff into the shed over mating. We don’t use tail paint, we rely solely on the collars, and we don’t scan either. This year, we will be using the collars to tell us who is pregnant and who is not. That may only be a small cost saving – but why spend it if you don’t have to? On top of that, pregnancy scanning is fairly invasive for the cows.”

Bulls are also off the shopping list. “We are not buying bulls. We used to get quite expensive short-gestation Hereford bulls and they were getting up to $40005000 each, and for staff it is a lot safer not having to deal with bulls in the herd.”

Overall, the Active Collars have given Mark and Sarah a sense of freedom knowing a critical job is being done well and consistently and they can focus on running a smooth operation.

“Cows are getting in calf for sure,” says Sarah. “We are trusting the collars and know they are not going to miss something, and that’s taking the stress off me and Dad as well. It has been very good.”

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