Heifer BenchmarksIan Rumbles – CanWest DHI

Deck of Cards

What would you build with a deck of cards?

Deck of Cards

- Would you build a simple house?

- Or a Tower

- Or something HUGE !

Deck of Cards

What is the BEST structure?

What is the GOAL !

- Largest number of cards- Or the fewest

- Highest - Most elaborate- Stable

Benchmarks

Determining the Best card structure, is a lot like Heifer Benchmarks.

- You need to determine what are you going to measure

- The additional thing, that was not in the Card example is comparing measurements over time

What to Measure ?

What can we measure to tell us we are doing the Best job possible in raising our heifers?

There are a number of things:

Health - Stillborns - F / M ratio and Twins - 60 Day Survival rate - Diseases

- Diarrhea - Pneumonia - Navel Infection - Left Herd reasons and age

Reproduction - Age at 1st Breeding - Age at first Calving - Times Bred - % heifers Pregnant at 15 mths

Growth - Birth Weight - Weight / Height at 1st Breeding - Weight / Height at first Calving

Population and Potential - Number Heifers per cow - Genetic potential of heifers, compared to cows

Economics - Average cost of Heifer Rearing

What are the KEY ones

Measurements

Lots of things we COULD measure

Measurements- Easy to do- Has an impact- Repeatable at regular intervals - Record and Chart

Easy to do- If it is not easy, you will not do it- Especially over time

Has an Impact- Will it make you more money- Will it cost less

Repeatable- Really important to keep doing it- Must be on a schedule so you can see progress

Record and Chart- Make sure you record- Charts will show impact

Depending on where you need to improve, will impact on how many measurements you take and for what

Death

A number of calves do not even get a chance to make it to the milking herd

Calves born Dead 6 % 12 % in 1st Lact Heifers

Calves die before Weaning 8 %

PLUS

Calves die post Weaning 2 %

PLUS

MEASURE

- % of calves dead before weaning

16 %

Are you doing Better or Worse than this?

Do you really know, or are you guessing?

Death

- Stillborns - what is the relationship to difficult calving and /or Twins

- 60 Day Survival rate

- Diseases - Diarrhea

- Pneumonia - Navel Infection

- Left Herd reasons and age

If you are having trouble with calves dying, you can measure:

Growth

Measuring the height and weight of a calf can help determine breeding age

Valacta and industry partners have good growth charts and graphs

Weights (kgs)

HO JE

Breeding 400 260

Calving 610 385

Growth

Ideally, you should get height and weight measurements at Weaning, First Breeding and Calving

Remember the first key in measurements is “Easy to Do”

Chart the heights and weights against age

Establish a process to measure heights and weights - Getting all heifers would be great - Get 10 measurements, height, weight and age, 2 to 4 times per year, would be good

Measuring sticks and tapes available from farm supply and feed companies

Reproduction

2011 Reproduction Benchmarks

Over 50% of ON herds have enough heifer reproduction data to make benchmarks

Reproduction

Establishing and distributing Benchmarks makes a difference (slow progress, but moving in the right direction)

Age at 1st Calving % Heifers Pregnant at 15 mths

09 10 11 09 10 11

25 28.0 27.9 27.4 25 3 4 4

50 26.4 26.4 25.9 50 14 17 18

75 25.3 25.2 24.9 75 37 42 43

90 24.4 24.4 24.1 90 61 65 67

Every month less to Age at 1st calving is 5% less cost to raise heifer

Population and Potential

The average Genetic Potential of heifers should be higher than cows

This herd has 1.2 heifers for every cow, is that economic?

Benchmarks

Measurements- Easy to do- Has an impact- Repeatable at regular intervals - Record and Chart

- If you are getting benchmarks already prepared (e.g. Reproduction benchmarks), you should compare your herd against the other rankings

- If you are tracking your own benchmarks (e.g. Height /weights or Genetic

indexes) it is important to: - select no more than 5 key areas to track - chart them so you have a visual reference - set a goal for the upcoming year

Thank You !