Pregnancy Testing Results for Cattle 2010
It is a while now since beef cow scanning ended but it is worth reviewing the season’s results. Here is a good-news story!
Virtually all the cattle pregnancy testing at Vet Services is now done by ultrasound scanning, allowing more accurate diagnosis of age of pregnancy, identifying twin calves if required, as well as being much gentler for the cows than the century-old practice of manual testing. Bear in mind that the figures below are based on CHB results only and may not reflect the whole Bay-wide result.
|
Historical data… |
Heifers (R2 + R3) |
MA Cows |
|
2006 |
81.6% |
92.0% |
|
2007 |
82.2% |
91.7% |
|
2008 |
75.7% |
84.7% |
|
2009 |
85.2% |
88.9% |
|
2010… |
Heifers (R2 + R3) |
MA Cows |
|
Best Result 2010 |
All in-calf |
All in-calf |
|
Worst Result 2010 |
40.0% empty |
29.6% empty |
|
Overall district in-calf rate 2010 |
89.3% in-calf |
90.6% in-calf |
Compared to previous years it looks like a pretty good result. MA cows aren’t stunningly good at just under 91% but they are well up on the last two years. The best number would be the outstanding heifer result. Heifer in-calf rates have been well behind the older cows (usually 10%) but are nearly level-pegging this year.
From our scanning figures we also see that the average beef cow herd in the district includes 64 heifers and 133 cows to the bull. The scanning figures mean that 54 heifers and 118 cows will be retained to calve.