Vets focus on heifer success for Emily Estates

Shepton Farm Animal Vet Rosie Lyle explains the methodology behind heifer selection for increased fertility and performance within the Emily herd.

Shepton Farm Animal Vet Rosie Lyle

HERD STATS

•  Based in Somerset

•  Established 2018

•  Current herd size 140 breeding females plus followers

•  Finishing stock for on-site hotel restaurants and butchery business

•  Herd raised on high quality pasture & forage

•  Genetics accumulated from wide range of bloodlines within the breed

The success of a suckler herd is largely underpinned by three key factors: nutrition, genetics, and selection. Breeding, selection, and management of heifers have a huge impact on lifetime productivity. Fertility is one of the key drivers of this, and therefore every effort must be made to ensure heifers are developed effectively so that fertility is optimised. But how do we achieve this with the British Whites in the Emily herd?

Nutrition plays a significant role in determining the age at puberty and the weight at breeding. Without careful monitoring, measuring, and management, we can experience difficulties. At the Emily herd, the average age at first calving has been around 30 months, but we have seen a gradual trend toward a younger age at first calving, without having to grow heifers on expensive purchased feeds.

Understanding the average mature cow weight is crucial for setting realistic growth targets. In the Emily herd, which is made up of diverse British White family lines, the average mature cow weight is about 650kg. We aim for heifers to reach 440kg at breeding, or approximately 65% of their mature weight. Most heifers reach this target between 16-20 months of age, and they are then introduced to the bull at the next breeding opportunity.

The team weighs frequently to understand how groups are performing and if they are on track to meet growth targets—and asks why if they are not. Currently, calves are growing at an average of 1kg/day.

Over the last three years, we have worked hard to improve fertility and bring the herd into a defined calving block to improve management. We now have two defined breeding periods—Spring and Autumn—at the Emily herd, during which bulls are run for eight weeks. Calving in a tight block makes the management of cows and calves easier, more efficient, and encourages good fertility within the herd. We aim for heifers to get in calf within two cycles and aim to calve them early in the block, allowing more time to recover before being put back to the bull.

For the Emily herd, understanding which genetic traits are most important to us for the long-term success of our suckler cows is key.

Deciding whether or not each heifer is suitable for breeding is integral to the future success of any herd

We are recording maternal traits in our data collection, including calving and fertility data. We collect 200-day weights to understand which mothers rear heavier calves at weaning. We know which cows live the longest and have produced a calf each year. We are now starting to use this data to make breeding decisions: which heifers will be bred, and which will be kept for beef production.

Disease management is another essential tool in our selection process. Annual disease testing is carried out, and we avoid breeding from heifers out of Neospora-positive mothers, as these animals are lifelong carriers and can transmit the disease to their offspring.

Cattle infected with Neospora are between three and seven times more likely to experience abortion, which can significantly affect herd productivity and fertility. Similarly, we remove all Johne’s disease-positive animals. Finally, we are also selecting for temperament and physical characteristics in addition to the health and fertility traits.

In the future, we hope to carry out pre-breeding exams, including pelvic measuring, to identify any potential issues, such as a small or abnormal pelvic area, which could increase the risk of dystocia. We are also considering the use of artificial insemination (AI) to utilise different bulls.

By focusing on selecting heifers with the right genetics, health status, and physical characteristics, we aim to create a herd that is both productive and sustainable in the long term for both the Emily herd and the British White breed.