Information that needs to be tracked includes which cows have been served each day. This makes it easy to track the cows that have been served, but also helps to determine when they might repeat, if they do not hold to first service.

If cows do not repeat you can assume that they have held to the first service and are likely in calf.

Heat detection

Over the next couple of weeks, heat detection is going to have a vital role to play on every dairy farm.

On farms that have heat-detection systems the job is a little easier, while for farms that are using tail paint or other methods that require more human intervention, more work is required.

Farmers should be checking cows more regularly during the breeding season. Morning and evening milkings are good times to check cows – but you also need to check them during the day and in the evening.

During the milking process cows can be missed and a missed heat costs money, so it is important to check cows throughout the day and in the evening.