Northland dairy farm manager Luke Boylan says accurate heat detection is a skill worth fine-tuning, as a missed heat costs at estimated $200.
In 2012 Luke Boylan attended a heat detection workshop in Kokopu, Northland, and is now putting the skills he learned to good use on a 280-cow farm in Purua.
Boylan says he learned the signs to look for to detect a cow on heat and put a plan in place to check cows.
"I noticed my heat detection skills improved and I was able to get cows in-calf quicker," says Boylan.
"By checking the cows routinely (three times a day), I picked up the cows whose signs weren't as obvious and got them in-calf on their first heat."
As a new manager, Luke is aiming to achieve industry targets for submission rates (90 per cent in the first three weeks of mating) and six-week in-calf rates (78 per cent).
Luke says the session on heat detection aids and hearing what other farmers were doing were really useful and he plans to use heat detection aids this year.
A series of DairyNZ heat detection workshops will be held throughout the country again in September and October to help farmers improve reproduction performance.
The workshops will cover a skills refresher, lifting team performance and evaluating heat detection performance.
The skills refresher will focus on recognising the signs of heat, using heat detection aids, systems and procedures for recording and observing heats.
Training team members and putting plans in place is the focus of the session on lifting team performance. The third session will cover submission rate and six-week in-calf rate targets as a way of evaluating heat detection performance.
Luke says the workshop will benefit all experience levels.
"Whether you're an experienced farmer looking to refresh your heat detection skills or if you want to equip your staff with the required skills, it's a good chance for the whole farm team to develop vital skills.
"It also helps to have the whole team on the same page when it comes to heat detection and reproduction management."
