1st November. Mating begins.

On the 1st of November all the farms within the Horgan Farm business, including William and Janice, start to AB (artificial breeding) their cows. This is the date the majority of the dairy farms in New Zealand start, with the odd exception of some starting a week or so earlier due to so many cows already having their first cycle. 

The multi coloured tail heads that have been painted on the cows have all been topped up with their chosen colours ready for this day, and the cows which were required to be CIDR'd have all been done. It's now simply a case of looking at the tailheads every morning milking to see what paint has, if any, been removed from the tailhead, which shows that the cow is on heat. It's important that these cows on heat are drafted out from the herd that morning so that they can be AB'd straight away or as soon as possible to try and get them in calf.

William and Janice have a lovely, knowledgable man called Peter who comes to AB their cows. Infact Peter AB's all the cows within the Horgan farm business. Peters wife Shirley also helps with the AB process and is in charge of organising all the semen straws which get used to AB the cows. Theses straws contain six drops of semen, which hold over 2.5million sperms. Shirley also notes down all the information required to be recorded about the AB process in the mating book, including what bulls have been used and the cows that have been AI'd (artificially inseminated) by those bulls.

The majority of New Zealand farmers rely, and trust, on the semen companies to choose what bulls they use, and there's only a small amount of farmers who choose what bulls they want to inseminate on their cows for specific breeding values they require.

I have come to learn that New Zealand's style of farming is very different to what I am used to seeing in the UK. It's a numbers game here in New Zealand, hence why the farmers don't worry about what bulls are used. As long as they get the majority of their herd in calf they are happy. I questioned Peter about the use of sexed semen in New Zealand and he informed me that only a small amount of farmers use it, firstly because it's still quite expensive to purchase, and secondly, the dairy farms are on a large scale here therefore they don't need to worry that much about guaranteeing heifer calves at calving time, because they will almost always get enough heifers to breed as followers anyway. (For those of you unsure what sexed semen is, it's semen that has a 90% chance of producing a heifer calf).

The AB process last for six weeks and in our first week of AB'ing we have already managed to AI 30% of the herd,which I have been informed is very good. After the six weeks is up, 16 bulls will arrive to clear up any cows which may have repeated or not yet been AB'd for the following four to six weeks. These bulls will be split between the two herds with some of them being kept seperate so that they can be rotated in order for the bulls to get a rest.

William and Janice prefer to AB the larger framed cows and the older cows with a friesain bull. The smaller framed cows and the heifers all get AB'd with a jersey bull, and when it comes to the bulls being used at the end, they use jerseys.

This is a very important part of the New Zealand dairy calendar, as they need to make sure they get the majority of their herd in calf for their next calving season, which in William and Janice's case, will start next August.

Fingers crossed all will go well and it'll be a very good season for them next year.

H x