Farm Animal Fertility Services
Farm Animal Fertility Services in Co. Cork
Our farm animal fertility services in Co. Cork provide comprehensive assessments and management to enhance reproductive success. We offer expert evaluations, tailored fertility plans, and ongoing support to ensure excellent breeding outcomes for your herd. Contact us to learn more about how we can assist with your farm’s fertility needs.
Factors Affecting Herd Fertility
Several key factors play a crucial role in influencing fertility within a herd, impacting reproductive success and overall herd productivity. Understanding and managing these factors is essential for improving breeding outcomes and maintaining a healthy, productive herd. These factors include:
- Body Condition Post-Calving: Assessing and managing body condition after calving is crucial for ensuring successful reproduction and overall health.
- Nutrition: Proper nutrition supports fertility and overall health, making it essential to maintain optimal feeding practices.
- Uterine Infections: Identifying and treating uterine infections early helps prevent long-term fertility issues and reproductive challenges.
- Infectious Diseases: Monitoring and managing infectious diseases that can cause early embryonic death is vital for maintaining herd fertility.
- Immunity: Strong immune function supports reproductive health and helps prevent fertility-related issues.
- Mineral Status: Ensuring adequate mineral levels is important for maintaining immunity and overall reproductive success.
- Heat Detection: Accurate heat detection is essential for successful breeding and improving reproductive efficiency.
- AI: Artificial Insemination (AI) techniques are used to enhance breeding outcomes and genetic improvement in the herd.
- Bull Fertility: Evaluating and maintaining bull fertility is crucial for successful breeding and ensuring the health of your herd.
Nutrition
Nutrition is vitally important for fertility so having cows at optimum nutrition in the period prior to the breeding season is vital.
Good transition cow management is the key, see our nutrition section for more information.
Uterine Health
Most cows will have some level of bacterial infection after calving for a short period, but in some cases, this can develop into a longer-term infection with more serious consequences for fertility. Identifying these infections early and treating them appropriately is crucial to uterine health.
Several conditions and events increase the cow’s risk of uterine infection:
- Having twins
- Assistance during calving
- Milk fever
- Retained fetal membranes
- Displaced abomasum
- Mastitis
- Ketosis
Cows that have one or more of these risk factors for infection need to be checked in advance, or early in the breeding season to deal with any issues and ensure their fertility for the coming year.
We Provide a Range of Fertility Services
Our fertility services at Millstreet Veterinary Group cover essential examinations and diagnostics to enhance your herd’s reproductive health and performance.
- Routine Post-Calving Scan/Examination
- Pre-Breeding Scan to identify problems that can delay oestrus and conception – this is typically done on cows not showing heat within 42 days of calving or at the start of the breeding season on all cows not submitted for AI within the first 3 weeks.
- Early Pregnancy Diagnosis: This can be done from 30 days after conception. This can be done early in the season to confirm pregnancy in early serviced cows, allowing you to identify non-pregnant cows early and re-breed them using fixed-time AI with a hormone protocol.
- Final Pregnancy Diagnosis: This should be done about one month after the end of the breeding season. This will confirm pregnancy status and stage of pregnancy giving you a guide for timing of drying off and dry cow nutrition. Late calvers and non-pregnant cows can be milked for longer and be more profitable.
- Herd Problem Investigation: A comprehensive investigation of suboptimal fertility performance in a herd can be carried out.
Heat Detection
We offer expert advice and essential tools for accurate heat detection to support effective breeding and reproductive management in your herd.
- Vasectomy of bulls – We will advise you on the type of animal to use and the timing of the surgery.
- We provide harnesses and chin-balls for vasectomized bulls.
- We stock a range of heat detection aids for sale in our shop in Millstreet.