Dairy Routine visits

Tailored to your farms needs, routine visits can be timed to fit in with your working day and be scheduled as frequently as necessary for the number of cows in your herd. Focused on fertility, these visits allow you to present cows for pregnancy scanning, those that have not been seen in heat and fresh cows for post-natal checks and ketone monitoring. They also provide a great opportunity to present sick or lame cows, and to discuss the overall health of your herd. Having your own dedicated vet for these visits will allow you to build a good working relationship with your vet and allow them to understand more deeply the health of your herd and the needs of your business.  

Bull Fertility Testing

Bull Breeding Soundness examinations can be carried out by specially trained members of our team. Given that around 25% of all bulls are subfertile, it is important to identify these bulls prior to the breeding season so that adequate ‘bull power’ can be provided during breeding. Subfertility may be due to inadequate sperm production/low testicular circumference, poor semen quality (both motility and/or morphology) or poor serving ability (lameness or penile abnormalities). 

Testing should be carried out around 6 - 8 weeks prior to breeding

A fully fertile mature bull running with 50 cycling cows should be able to get 90% of them pregnant within 9-weeks. Where a bull is identified as subfertile, a breeding soundness examination will allow us to give a prognosis on likely future fertility and to outline a ‘safe’ number of cows for him to breed in a 9-week period. 

Semen is collected for analysis using electro-ejaculation. This tried and tested method allows semen to be collected both quickly and safely if adequate restraint is provided. The majority of semen analysis will then be conducted on farm giving you a rapid appreciation of your bull’s likely fertility. Further analysis of the morphology of the semen is normally conducted at the practice laboratory. 

Not only used to test bulls prior to breeding, a Bull Breeding Soundness Examination can be conducted on bulls prior to sale, and on any bulls where a fertility issue is suspected (for example, where there are a high number of cows returning to heat after service). 

Tup Fertility Testing

Tup fertility is critical for the profitability of your flock. Subfertile or infertile tups will lead to poor scanning percentages and prolonged or slow lambing periods.

Ideally all tups should be assessed around 6 -8 weeks prior to breeding. This allows time for replacements to be sourced if necessary, and for retesting of tups that fail initially.

Assessment of tup fertility will be carried out by specially trained members of our team and will routinely include a general physical examination and examination of the reproductive tract (penis and testicles). Semen analysis will be performed where subfertility is suspected, where a single male is expected to serve a group of ewes or where a male is unproven.  

Data Analysis

The fertility of a dairy herd drives profitability. Therefore, analysis of fertility data is critical to assess where improvements in your system can be made. At Belle Vue Vets we have a range of computer programs available for data analysis. Currently we offer a quarterly data analysis service, allowing you to keep track of your herd’s progress and flagging any issues as they occur. More in depth analysis can be performed on a case by case consultancy basis.

Heifer Pelvic Scoring

Pelvic scoring of replacement beef heifers is a way in which to screen out those animals with extremely small or abnormally shaped pelvic inlets prior to breeding. After measurements are conducted, heifers will be ranked according to their 365-day pelvic area. Those animals with abnormally small pelvic areas will be at greater risk of calving difficulty. However, this management tool should not be considered in isolation, with dam body condition score and appropriate sire selection also critical for ensuring heifers have as easy a first calving as possible.  

Block Calving Herd Scanning

Pregnancy scanning of block calving herds provides some major advantages for the management of the herd. Ideally block calving herds would undergo an early and a ‘mop up’ scan.

Early scanning would be carried out 8 weeks after the bull has been put in. This will give you the 3-week in-calf rate (aim 65%). Failure to achieve an adequate 3-week in-calf rate can then be investigated in the hope of saving the breeding season. Reasons for poor 3-week in-calf rates may include poor bull fertility, high proportion of late calving cows, infectious disease, nutritional issues. Early scans also will provide more accurate calving dates and easier identification of twins, allowing better management of cows around calving. 

‘Mop up’ scans would be completed around 5 weeks after the bulls have been lifted. This will identify geld cows at the end of breeding. In the beef herd, maintaining geld cows unproductively through winter is a major cost to the herd, and these cows should either slip into an autumn calving block or be removed from the herd. 

An analysis of scanning results can be performed to assess performance of the herd during breeding, and to outline the likely calving pattern. If there is cause for concern (ie lots of late calving cows), then plans can be formulated ahead of time to ensure better performance in the next breeding season.