With mating just ahead and cashflow a bit tight, you may be looking at options to reduce the number of non-cyclers in your herd. The traditional approach is to ‘treat’ non-cyclers with a cuemate program, which we still recommend, but if you're looking for a more cost-effective option, here are our suggestions:
1. Ensure mineral status is optimal to increase the submission and conception rate of your herd
Taking blood samples is an option to make sure you are on the right track
Treat your herd with Multimin pre-mating - injecting dairy cows four weeks before mating lowered empty rates by over 3%, halved pregnancy losses, and moved the average conception date forward by three days, with a ROI of 5:1
2. Reduce the pressure on your cows, especially your 1st calvers
Put them in a separate once a day herd
Treat with Eprinex pour-on to reduce the effect of parasitism
3. Some of your ‘non-cyclers’ may just be having silent heats
Consider using vasectomised bulls (relatively quick and simple surgery) to improve heat detection
4. If you're going to use a cuemate program to treat non-cyclers, use them wisely
Treat early, prior to PSM to ensure best ROI
Be selective with who you treat – not old cows with high SCC, lame, or an udder hanging on the ground
Only treat cows calved at least 30 days to get best results
5. Another option is to focus on your already-cycling cows
Why-wait injections are much cheaper than cuemate programs and will move your cycling cows forward by a week
These injections can also be used on non-cyclers, but the results can be a lot more variable
6. Metricheck and treat your herd to give cows the best chance of getting in-calf
If you would like to discuss how your money is best spent around getting your cows in calf, please contact us at the clinic.
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