GEORGE F.W. HAENLEIN
Extension Dairy Specialist
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. This is
April, and adding 279 days
doesn’t get us to a projected calv
ing date at the end of June, so why
worry about it now?
First, the end of June is just
before the beginning of the “base”
period in dairy cattle manage
ment It’s the time when many
dairy farmers in this region find it
most profitable to have their cows
begin lactation.
At least that’s what the milk
marketing people are striving for
with their quota-like base-making
period from July to December,
when they usually increase milk
prices.
So April is the wrong time to
breed cows, and worrying about
estrus detection for breeding is not
a high priority.
But the right time, the begin
ning of September, will soon be
here. We cannot relax our vigi
lance toward an ever better suc
cess rate.
Look at the DHIA records and
you will undentand quickly what
I mean about greater vigilance.
Missed estrus and missed pre
gnancies result in lost milk incom
e, but you can change this without
an extra penny of investment.
DHIA records show several
entire herds averaging a calving
interval of more than 13. S months.
This means the cows were not
detected in estrus in time to get
them pregnant again for a new lac
tation 12 months from the last one.
an optimum cycle in terms of
dairy herd net income.
Even in good herds, we And
calving intervals of more than
13.5 months for individual cows.
Getting them on time by using bet
ter estrus detection will put money
into the dairy farmer’s pocket.
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This is where I must say, “Oh
my!” It’s not easy, as one can sur
mise from the long list of tools and
gadgets necessary to perform the
task the bull used to accomplish so
easily.
He has a sense that people do
not have, and this has turned out to
be a nuyor handicap whether we
admit it or not The bull uses his
nose to sniff the scent that is part
of estrus in cows. He curls up his
nose in a chracteristic behavior of
scent analysis called “flehmen.”
With his nose curled up, he
sniffs, carefully drawing in air
from the cow’s back through his
sinuses.
Humans cannot tell the differ
ence. What can we do instead? We
observe whether a cow shows
restless behavior, has mucous sec
retion around die tail, mounts
others and begins to stand like a
sawhorse.
Observing behavior is so unreli
able or depends so much on con
scientious people watching at the
right time that success in getting
cows bred on time after calving
always suffers, especially in larger
herds.
This is where the endless list of
gadgets comes in, endless because
none of them seem to do the job
really well.
First on the list is a “clean-up”
bull, the nearest to the real thing
and not a gadget It is at the top of
the list of resorting to something
else when everything fails.
A clean-up bull is an admission
that everything else has failed.
Next is a bull who has had one
of several possible operations to
make his penis unable to breed.
He wears an ink stamp under his
chin to mark the cows in estrus.
This method is similar to the
popular practice among sheep
breeders who keep a ram with an
apron performing the same task.
Instead of a bull with an opera-
Time For Heat Detection?
tion, some dairy fanners use an
“androgenized” cow, one injected
with a male hormone to make her
think she is male. She, too, wears
an ink pad under her chin.
Following along similar lines is
the gadget of a patch glued to the
rump of cows due to come into
estrus. When one is in estrus, other
cows mount her. Paint in the patch
becomes visible because of the
exerted pressure.
Alternatively, farmers paint the
rumps with crayons which then
become wiped off or smeared. All
this requires daily attention to the
gadget details and a certain
investment
Another approach to detecting
restless behavior in cows is the so
called pedometer like joggers use.
In cows, the pedometer is
mounted around her legs or neck
strap to detect a difference in
activity from day to day. Some
times, manure covers that part of
the leg!
In herds with electronic feeding
and milk weighing systems, the
differences in feed intake and milk
production can be related to
estrus.
So are slight increases in body
temperature, measured directly in
milk at milking time, although on
warm summer days the increase in
milk temperature usually comes
from the sun.
The traditional approach has
been to rely on a recurring 21-day
celendar or on a sophisticated
“breeding wheel," which call into
view the cows that should be in
estrus on a certain date so the herd
manager can check them.
Good herds usually do fairly
well with any of these gadgets, but
marginal herds don’t.
The next step is to the veterina
rian for treatments, not just for his
monthly visits of pregnancy
checks. Why did this cow not
come into estrus? Why is she not
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yet pregnant when she should be?
Treatments usually involve repro
ductive hormones of some kind or
related substances.
Dairy fanners could test (it
doesn’t have to be only the veter
inarian) the progesterone hormone
content, minute as it is. of milk
samples from individual cows to
determine where she is in her nor
mal cycle to know for certain
when her estrus will occur.
Then the veterinarian can accel
erate the process by administering
a series of estrogen and progester
one hormones to bring her into
estrus on a certain date.
The veterinarian also can inject
prostaglandins, which are not hor
mones but fatty acids. Prostaglan
dins act on the corpus luteum in
the ovaries to bring about estrus
within 72 hours.
This is also called estrus “syn
chronization,” because more than
one cow can be brought into estrus
at the same time with all the possi
ble economic benefits, when one
thinks in terms of base time for
getting the most milk income at
the best time.
This brings me to the final
point Should we continue to wor
ry about detecting estrus when we
Extension Sets
Pasture Feeding
WELLSBORO (Tioga Co.)
Penn Stale Cooperative Extension
is sponsoring a pasture feeding
meeting on May 11.
The meeting will be held at the
Penna. Electric Building south of
Mansfield on Business Route IS
from 12130 p.m. till 3 p.m.
Lisa Holden will speak on pas
ture ration balancing and feeding.
Lisa has worked closely with the
pasture research trails with the
Penn Slate University dairy herd.
A farmer panel will discuss
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have to admit that our noses are
not made for it and the many
gadgets are only partial solutions?
Many good new ideas and solu
tions in the dairy business have
come from New Zealand. A popu
lar practice there is to synchronize
the entire herd. Herd owners then
have two months vacation without
worrying about milking and they
don’t seem to worry much about
estms detection.
A few formers in Ohio have
recently considered trying this
method. I don’t know whether it’s
crazy for our circumstances or
whether it will have merit
eventually.
If the milk processing plant
assigned certain months of syn
chronized calving for certain far
mers, the market supply of milk
every month could be maintained.
Not having to worry about how
well and how efficiently to detect
estrus may be worth trying to syn
chronize certain herds at certain
times. It’s bound to be used more
and more now, even if only to get
cows to rebreed on time after
calving.
This has worked out best in our
University of Delaware dairy
herd, and more and more farmers
are finding it profitable.
Meeting
what they feed with pasture and
how they do it. Also general dis
cussion on pasture layout, feeding,
watering systems, and fencing
will take place.
This is the first pasture meeting
of the season. Last year several
Tioga County dairy farmers met
regularly to discuss intensive
grazing.
Call the Tioga County exten
sion office for more information at
(717) 724-1906.
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