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ANIMAL PRODUCTION - 3 > 3 – Breeding Management > Flashcards

3 – Breeding Management Flashcards

1
Q

What are the first meat breeds in Canada?

A
  • Black angus
  • Herford: older breed now
  • (shorthorn)
  • *hardy and tough (‘less groceries’)
  • European came later: Simentals
    o Bigger and can be dual purpose
    o Require more resources
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2
Q

Management of newborn

A
  • Ensure adequate colostral intake
  • Ensure calve is mothering calf
  • Vit E/Selenium
  • Dip Navel
  • ID tag
  • Record birth weight
  • Dehorn/castrate <7 days of age
    o Next option at 1-2 months
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3
Q

What do you do for calf management at ‘turn out’ (usually 1-2 months old)

A
  • *want to vaccinate as maternal Abs decreased
  • For sure: Clostridial vaccines
  • Maybe:
    o Initial H. somnus vaccination
    o Other respiratory vaccines (M. hemolytica, P. multocida, INTRA-nasal vaccines)
  • Dehorning and castration if required
    o Hard to castrate at birth
  • Growth implant for steer calves
    o Many don’t’ do in heifers as can affect reproduction (as long as over 30d of age!)
  • Vit E/Selenium injection
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4
Q

Castration in bull calves: why?

A
  • Bull calves are discounted heavily
  • NA industry does NOT give high price for bull carcasses
  • Intact bulls are difficult to manage
  • *Implants at branding/’turn out’ offset weight gain DISADVANTAGE due to castration
    o Ralgro
    o Synovex
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5
Q

What are the priority welfare issues?

A
  • Painful procedures
    o Dehorning, castration, banding
  • Feedlot health and morbidity
  • Weaning methods
  • Environmental and housing conditions
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6
Q

What are the areas of feedlot health and morbidity?

A
  • BRD
  • Lameness
  • Nutritional diseases associated with high concentrate feeding
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7
Q

Castration: Canadian code of practice and pain control

A
  • Pain control IF older than 6 months of age
    o Next round=likely required to use pain control
  • (dairy: use in all calves)
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8
Q

De-horning: Canadian code of practice and pain control

A
  • If after horn bud attachment=need to use pain
  • (dairy: block and use anesthetic)
    o Likely will be that for the next beef code of practice
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9
Q

Castration methods

A
  • LOTS!
  • Emasculator
  • Newberry knife
  • *best to do it as early as possible
    o Elastrator Bander: not pain free, but less pain
    o Can do for older calves: but only if need be
  • OLDER: *tetanus concern when use bander=VACCINATE
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10
Q

Vaccination of cows

A
  • Modified live IBR/PI3, BVD, BRSV vaccine
  • Optional
    o Campylobacter fetus (Vibrio)
    o Leptospirosis
    o H. somnus
  • Clostridial vaccine booster for heifers! Maybe also cows every other year
  • **at least 30d before breeding season starts
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11
Q

What are some other things done prior to breeding season?

A
  • Fly tags
  • BCS
  • Weigh heifers
  • Reproductive tract scoring and pelvic measurements
  • Estrous synchronization for heifers
  • Bull evaluation +/- Trichomoniasis testing
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12
Q

What are the objectives of reproductive management?

A
  • High percentage of cows pregnant
  • Maximize weaning weights=calve EARLY
  • Uniform calf crop
    o Short breeding season (2 cycles for heifers, 3 for cows)
  • Breed heifers to calve as 2-year-olds
  • One calf/cow/year over 3-5 reproductive lifetime
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13
Q

What are some of nature’s obstacles?

A
  • Fixed gestation length (282d)
    o Cows must conceive within 85 days of calving to calve at the same time next year
  • Delay in first estrus due to suckling
    o Suckled beef cows do NOT begin estrous cycles for 40-60d post calving
  • Conception rate: 60-70% maximum (if do AI=less)
    o Mother nature=actually pretty good
    o Better than many species (including humans, dogs, horses)
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14
Q

What are the risk factors for impaired fertility? 2 areas

A
    1. Conception rate
    1. % of females cycling
      o Many times this is the case
      o Driven by body condition
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15
Q

What is done to overcome nature’s obstacles?

A
  • Restricted breeding season
  • Breed heifers 3-4 weeks before cows
  • Cows at good BCS at time of breeding
    o *need to make sure interval between calving and cycling is NOT extended
  • Flushing
  • 48hr calf removal
  • Heifer management and selection
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16
Q

Restricted breeding season

A
  • Provides selection pressure for cow fertility
  • Reduction of 25-50lbs in calf weaning for every 21d later in calving season
    o Want 60% of herd to calve in first 21d! (need to conceive in first 21d)
  • *simplifies management strategies: nutritional management and vaccine protocols
17
Q

Calving distribution and profit: research

A
  • Decrease length if calving season=huge difference in increasing profit
18
Q

Breed heifers 3-4 weeks before cows: why?

A
  • Longer anestrous period after calving
  • More likely to have dystocias
  • Likely to mismother
  • Have less colostrum and calves are more at risk for failure of passive transfer
  • Have lower milk production
19
Q

Cows in good body condition at time of breeding

A
  • Minimum BCS of 2.5
  • *require sorting at weaning time to adjust BCS after calving
  • High demands of lactation make it difficult to ‘catch up’ after calving
  • Thin cows=less are cycling=take LONGER
  • Good weight=most cycling at 60d (91% vs. 50% in the thin calves)
  • If calved in second 21=good cows good chance, but moderate and thin cows are LESS likely
  • If calved in 3rd window: very unlikely to be cycling even if in good body condition
20
Q

Flushing

A
  • Feed cows increased energy ratio so they gain weight just PRIOR to breeding season
  • *cows in positive energy balance=more likely to cycle and conceive
    o Those with above average weight gains were 2x more likely to be pregnant
21
Q

48 hour calf removal (not used in most herds)

A
  • Difficult management procedure
  • Removes effect of suckling to ‘kick start’ estrous cycles on cows
  • Variable results with research trials
  • May work better on cows in poorer body condition
22
Q

Management program for heifers

A
  • Raise heifers to reach TARGET WEIGHTS
    o 65% of mature weight at breeding
    o 85% of mature weight at calving
  • Feed appropriate ration
  • Select heifers from early calvers
23
Q

Heifer selection

A
  • 15-20% of cow herd replaced each year
  • Need to select 35-50% more heifers than required at weaning
    o Allows for culling of poor yearling weights and those that don’t conceive
  • *usually equates to keeping 50% of heifer calf crop
24
Q

Heifers and time to re-cycle after calving

A
  • 82-100d until first breeding period
  • NONE cycling by start of next breeding period
    o Even those perfectly good and fertile
    o **highest open rate will be in second calvers
  • **BREED HEIFERS AHEAD OF COW HERD (~30d prior)
25
Q

Heifers are important in improving productivity

A
  • Productivity is improved when a high % of heifers conceive early in first breeding season
  • *establishing momentum
  • Need to be cycling at 12-13.7 months of age (born in first 42 days of breeding season)
26
Q

Breeding soundness of bulls

A
  • Testicular and scrotal development
  • Semen quality and volume
  • Ability to physically breed females
  • Libido or serving capacity
27
Q

What is an appropriate bull:cow ratio?

A
  • Yearlings: 15-20
  • 2 years: 20-30
  • 3+ years: 30-40
28
Q

Scrotal circumference

A
  • Max testicular size reached by 4-6 years of age
  • By 12-14 months=bulls should have reach minimum scrotal circumference (32cm)
    o If low as a yearling=usually low at maturity as well
  • **those with a greater scrotal circumference=make female reach puberty sooner
29
Q

If 32cm circumference at 24 months: how many pass later on?

A
  • 13% pass
30
Q

if 38cm circumference at 24 months: how many pass later on?

A
  • 88% pass
31
Q

Number of calves the bulls actually sire

A
  • HUGE variability
    o Likely due to libido and dominance, etc.
  • No testing currently
  • Would be useful to know those
32
Q

Cow calf and technologies

A
  • Pretty low tech
  • *SPARSE USE
  • ½ do individual records
  • Only 20% have computer records
  • Average: 2 vet farm visits
    o 1. Preg check (fall)
    o 2. Semen testing (spring)
  • Only 50% preg checked their cows
  • Only 25% implant calves
  • *management strategies are NOT widely adopted in the industry (due to most being ‘hobby herds’)
33
Q

So what can we do to add value to the calf-cow industry? (besides preg check and semen)

A
  • Continued education (many clinics now do it for free)
    o Grazing management
  • RECORD KEEPING and analysis (hard to know how to charge for that)
    o Got used to charging for physical tasks vs. brain
34
Q

Charging for services right now in calf-cow industry

A
  • ex. if cost per post-mortem, there worst day=your best day
  • IF do RETAINER FEE: you are now in alignment
    o You are trying to preventing the bad days from happening and they still pay you
  • “can also shop around”
35
Q

Grazing management

A
  • KEY
  • Maintaining a plant community requires SKILLFUL management
  • Rotational or time controlled=popular and improves profit

ANIMAL PRODUCTION - 3 (20 decks)

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