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CONTENTS

1:INTRODUCTION

2:HEALTH AND HEAT DETECTION

3:CALVING AND MATING FACILITIES

4:EQUIPMENT REQUIRED AT BIRTH

5:SIGNS OF IMPENDING BIRTH

6:SUPERVISION

INTRODUCTION

Infertility is one of the most important reasons for culling in Irish dairy and suckler herds.

In some herds infertility can represent half of all culls. This can cause a lot of bother and economic loss i.e. higher AI costs, increased cow maintenance costs, increased replacement costs, reduced milk due to shorter lactations and a greater proportion of replacement heifers required.Even when cows are served successfully,problems can still occur i.e. 10% of cows will have a difficult calving and 5% of calves will die at birth.

Health and Heat detection

The first step in breeding management is to make health checks on all cows post-calving. Most cows, but not all, recover fully given time in the post-calving period. A minority of cows have problems.

Pre-breeding health

Afterbirth Retention

Some cows retain the afterbirth which can lead to uterine infection and this, in turn, increases the calving to conception interval.

Afterbirth can be retained for 4 or 5 days without the cow getting sick. If still retained after 5 days then veterinary assistance should be sought.

Uterine discharge

This is a normal consequence of calving and usually disappears within 1 to 2 weeks of calving. It can be as a result of a difficult calving or an unclean environment.

In order to minimise infection of the uterus it is imperative that the calving environment and all calving aids should be cleaned and disinfected. Persistent discharge would indicate more severe infection.these discharges can cause MASTITIS outbreaks and should be scraped off cubicle beds,also veterinary assistance should be sought.

Other Health Checks

Cows that have suffered difficult calvings, metabolic diseases or are in poor condition will have an increased calving to conception...