Production and Breeding in the Future Herd

This article is one of a series prepared jointly by CAFRE and John Thompson & Sons, focusing on the key management issues facing dairy farmers during 2008.  The articles draw on experiences from the management of the Future Herd at Greenmount Campus, CAFRE, managed in partnership with Thompson’s using data from Thompson’s Milk Manager which is collated from dairy herds across Northern Ireland.

At Greenmount, milk production and concentrate input for the Future Herd is monitored on a monthly basis to establish trends and compare with the targets set for the herd.  Herd performance to the end of September is summarised in Table 1.  The target is to maintain a 12-month rolling average production of 8,500 litres/cow/year on 2,000 KG concentrate/cow/ year with 4,000 litres of milk being produced from forage.

Average rolling 12-month production is currently 8,163 litres/cow.  The late spring, early summer drought and above average rainfall throughout August and September have made 2008 an extremely difficult season for efficient grassland management.  As a result, rolling average milk from forage production in the Future Herd has decreased from 3,711 litres/cow/year in July 2007 to 3,382 litres/cow/year in July 2008, with the level of concentrate feeding currently being 2,150 tonnes per cow per year.

Table 1:  Monthly production and rolling 12-month Averages for the Future Herd

There has been a considerable improvement in the butterfat and protein content of the milk produced in the last year.  In the 12 months to the end of September 2007, the butterfat and protein percent of milk produced were 4.12 percent and 3.29 percent, but this increased to 4.34 percent and 3.37 percent in the 12 months to the end of September 2008.  This increase is a result of feeding maize for the first time last winter and a long term breeding policy where bulls selected have positive deviations for both fat and protein percentage.

Cows in the Future Herd have an average PTA of 41 for milk, 0.13 for butterfat percent and 0.05 for protein percent with an average PIN of £17 and PLI of £64.  Sires are selected to ensure that these herd genetics continue to improve.  Heifers calving down in the Future Herd this winter have been sired by Picston Shaker, Sandy-Valley Onyx and Olmo Prelude Tugolo. These heifers have average PTAs for protein of 0.09 percent and PTAs for butterfat of 0.25 percent.

The same sire selection policy was used last winter with additional criteria being positive fertility and negative somatic cell count – both Gillette Legacy and Klassic Merrill Lynch being used.  This winter continued emphasis will be put on protein percentage to produce milk more suitable for cheese manufacture with the ideal minimum average butterfat of 3.80 percent and 3.40 percent protein.

Sires selected for use in the 2008-09 breeding season are Kelstein Dynasty, Heihoeve Delta Spencer and Klassic Merrill Lynch with their proofs being:

The 30 highest yielding cows will be inseminated with semen from Heihoeve Delta Spencer to improve the milk quality of their progeny, while Kelstein Dynasty and Klassic Merrill Lynch will be used equally across the rest of the herd.  Since semen from Kelstein Dynasty is available as sexed and unsexed, heifers will inseminated with sexed semen on the first service and conventional unsexed semen on subsequent services.

If you have any queries on the production or the sire selection of the Future Herd, please contact your local Dairying Development Adviser or David Mackey on 028 9442 6861.