Dairy Focus: Keeping breeding simple but effective in Co. Tipperary

Agriland

4 days ago

At a recent Teagasc/Dairygold farm walk in Co. Tipperary, dairy farmer Mark Lonergan highlighted his breeding performance and how conception rates have been going so far, four weeks into the breeding season.
Lonergan is milking 107 cows this year after reducing his cow numbers to bring down his stocking rate so he can match growth rates with demand during the mid-season, cutting down on silage and meal costs.
The farm was also up at 250kg organic nitrogen (N)/ha and with an additional 8ac of land being rented and the reduction of cow numbers, the stocking rate last year sat at 206kg N/ha, leaving the farm comfortably stocked.
Grassland management and breeding quality replacements was something that Lonergan had clearly prided himself on, as it was evident on the day how shrewd he was at keeping quality grass in front of cows which in turn helps achieve better conception rates.
The herd of cows are primarily Holstein Friesian with a hint of Jersey in amongst the herd, as Lonergan used a couple of Jersey straws a couple of years ago.
Performance
For a primarily black-and-white herd of cows, Lonergan's percentages are very impressive as the cows produced 535kg of milk solids (MS)/cow, averaging 16.81L/cow/day with 4.64% fat and 3.81% protein.
This high quality milk accumulated with a somatic cell count (SCC) of 138,000 cells/ml earned him an average milk price of 55.3c/L which is 4.2c/L over the Dairygold average.
This milk price was highlighted in detail, as farmers often glance over how much above or beneath the average they are, but the significance of a few cent over was a major topic of discussion on the day.
From 2018 to 2024, on average, Lonergan was over the average milk price by 3.3c/L which would have accumulated to €164,759 extra over the average Dairygold milk price throughout the seven years.
With an aim of producing an extra 30kg/MS/cow this year with less volume, the projected cumulative value over the eight years is €184,759, which highlights how much a few cents over the average price can accumulate to over a number of years.
Currently cows are producing 26L/cow/day at 4.34% fat and 3.68% protein, equating to 2.15kg MS/cow/day off 18kg of grass DM and 2kg of an 11% crude protein (CP) nut.
Mark Lonergan's cows out grazing
The farm grew 12.6t of grass last year and Lonergan fed 1.4t of meal/cow last year due to the poor grass growing last year as he usually tries feed between 700-800kg of meal cow each year.
This growth and production was driven through applying 185kg N/ha -of which 98% was protected urea – applying 63t of lime. All slurry was spread through low emission slurry spreading (LESS), and 35% of the milking platform was in grass-white clover swards.
58% of the soil on the farm has a pH between 6.2 and 6.7, with 79% in index three or four for phosphorus (P) and 78% index three or four for potassium.
Lonergan still goes with the 'little but often' approach for lime, as Teagasc dairy specialist, Stuart Childs highlighted that 0.5t/ha of lime will be washed away each year.
For clover paddocks, Lonergan hopes to cut back on N application in the next number of weeks, as he is still applying 16-17 units of N/ac on low quantity clover paddocks and just soiled water on higher clover content paddocks.
The farmer reseeds about 10% of the farm each year in which all his reseeds include clover and said that he used to over-sow clover but the results were 'hit and miss'.
These efficient measures of turning grass into milk solids means that the farm's carbon footprint sits at 0.88kg CO 2 eq per kg of fat and protein corrected milk and nitrogen use efficiency of 29% and a N surplus of 184kg N/ha.
Breeding
Lonergan expressed that he has been breeding for percentages over the last couple of years while going for a higher maintenance figure, which currently sits at €14.
Over the last seven years, the herd's fat % PTA went from 0.13 to 0.18 while the protein % PTA went from 0.08 to 0.13.
The bulls that Lonergan has been using over the last few year are generally around 0kg of milk or plus or minus 100kg of milk with 0.2% protein and 0.30% fat.
His herd has an average economic breeding index (EBI) of €253 with the 2026 calves predicted to be €292 and the weighted average of his bull team this year is €332.
The bull team average 31.3kg of milk solids with -25kg of milk and 0.36% fat and 0.22% protein.
Lonergan's collecting yard and drafting system coming from the parlour
The calving interval last year was 371 days and Lonergan achieved an 89% six-week calving rate, with all of his heifers calving down within 26 months.
Lonergan uses all dairy artificial insemination (AI) in the first 3-3.5 weeks with no over complications as straws are not matched up to each individual cow due to the similarity in bulls used.
All the heifers were inseminated on May 8 after a fixed time AI programme and all received sexed semen straws.
Lonergan achieved a 67% conception rate with sexed semen on heifers last year and 65% conception rate on cows last year.
The Co. Tipperary farmer said he would never go back after using fixed timed AI on heifers for the last couple of years as he said they will all calve around February 9, before the peak of calving season which takes the pressure off.
Breeding season for the cows starts on May 1 and only six cows were selected for sexed semen this year. Any cow that comes into heat in the first three weeks will get a conventional dairy straw as this year with over 90% submitted after three weeks.
On the farm this year, 47 heifer calves were born, of which Lonergan kept 23 and sold 24, as he wants to ensure that he has an 18% replacement rate in two year's time.
The first round of repeats will all receive conventional dairy straws and then Lonergan will use Aberdeen Angus for the rest of the breeding season.
Lonergan is happy the way his breeding season works as it is not over complicated and he has repeat customers for Friesian bull calves and his surplus heifer calves.
He is waiting for the calves' genomic results to pick the best calves for himself and sells the rest.
Lonergan discussing farm performance with Teagasc dairy adviser, Darragh Kelly
It is evident that the cows in the herd are well-fed as energy intakes are always maximised through grass utilisation and a small bit of meal which helps with fertility and conception.
However, Lonergan highlighted that the Smaxtec bolus has helped immensely with his heat detection and conception rates.
He is in his thrid year of having the Smaxtec bolus, which gives data straight from the reticulum, providing information on inner body temperature, rumination, water intake, heat detection, and calving detection, amongst other data.
He has found the bolus a great aid in getting cows served at the right times and not missing heats, as well as detecting cows that are sick or have mastitis early before it becomes a problem.
Lonergan runs a simple breeding season and overall system which proves very effective, as through doing the basics to a very high standard, he is reaping the rewards through milk production, grass utilisation and fertility performance.