Semex ai24 Newsletter - Summer 2013

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PUT TIME ON YOUR SIDE

Semex ai24™ newsletter summer 2013 pg 1

Working with Dan Reuter

Jake Kempel, Semex Partner Development Manager

CONSULTANTS AND EFFICIENCY ARE KEY AT REUTER DAIRYIf you were going to build the ideal dairy what would it look like? Four row, sand-bedded freestall barns with one stall per cow for every lactation stage? A large holding area and parlor designed for easy cow flow? A roomy, pre-fresh pen with freshly bedded straw and plenty of bunk space? Fans, fans and more fans? How about cow and heifer facilities so clean you could literally eat off of the floor?

If that’s your dream, then welcome to Reuter Dairy in Peosta, Iowa! There is no doubt that cow care comes first for the father-son team of Rick and Dan Reuter.This family operation has Rick taking care of the feeding and fieldwork, Rick’s wife Elaine caring for the calves, Dan managing the cows and Rick and Dan overseeing the farm and making decisions together.

Rick grew up on his father Jim’s 150-cow dairy farm south of Dubuque, Iowa. In 1975 Jim purchased the current farm where Rick began milking 80 cows on 260 acres. The herd continued to grow on its own until 1997 when they built a new parlor and freestall barn, allowing them to expand to 240 cows. The Reuters continued gradually growing with minimal risk to today’s 850 cows, 850 heifers and 12 employees.

The Reuters grow all corn for silage on 800 acres, and buy hay and grain mix to complete their ration. They currently average 100 lbs/cow/day with a RHA of 30,676, 3.7% Fat, 3.2% Protein, and a SCC of 68,000. The SCC average for the last eight years has been 75,000.

Key to the Reuters’ evolution and profitability are efficiency and consulting, and this father-son team has always looked for ways to invest money in the operation to maximize profits. Dan, who owned and operated his own hoof trimming business for seven years before returning to the farm comments

about learning from others, “I really enjoyed meeting a lot of new people and seeing a lot of different operations and opinions in my time away from the farm, but I sure was happy to get back!” “There is no room to spend money wastefully in this industry anymore. The cows and investments have to be profitable,” said Dan.

Maximizing pregnancies and cow health are two major areas that Rick and Dan have always focused on. Natural heat detection and monitoring fresh cows was something they were always very successful with, but this became more challenging as their herd grew. They started relying more on synchronization protocols and spending more time with the fresh cows just to stay at the top of their game.

The idea of rumination monitoring really intrigued the Reuters and prompted them to start looking into the Semex ai24™ system. After discussions with Semex representatives and reviewing the possible return on investment in

areas such as labor, hormones, decreasing the severity of fresh cow treatments, as well as increased conception and pregnancy rates, they decided to implement the ai24 system a year ago in April 2012.

“The rumination is awesome,” says Dan. “We are spending a lot less time looking at cows because I have this watching them 24/7. We are using less treatment medications because it (ai24) allows us to make more

timely decisions on questionable cows. This lowers the severity of treatments and drops in production. We are even not treating poorer looking fresh cows that we would have treated before because their rumination is fine and they take care of themselves.”

“You can’t teach cow sense,” comments Dan. “You either have it or you don’t, but ai24 helps either way!” The Reuters have also seen a significant boost in reproduction since installing and have become more efficient in labor and hormone use, as well as pregnancy creation. The faster they get cows pregnant after their 60-day voluntary waiting period, the quicker their fresh cows get off to a good start and the easier it is to keep milk production up. Dan has used the activity information to help maximize conception rates on cows and heifers, with less than 10% of their breedings being Timed-AI.

Continued on next page

pg 2 PUT TIME ON YOUR SIDE

WORKING TOGETHER“Consulting is very important. We love hearing about, and asking other people how they do things. Consultants see a lot more than we do, and we wouldn’t know the right or wrong way to do something unless we asked and other producers shared their results,” says Dan. The nutritionist, vet and Semex Genetic Consultants are just a few of the people these folks use to bounce ideas off of and collect advice.

Rick and Dan have always been very strict with their genetic requirements, using a consistent selection criteria of medium-sized cows with good udders and feet & legs, with a balance of production, fat and protein and health traits specific to somatic cell score and daughter pregnancy rate.

“Building up our genetics is extremely important. It’s just as important for the operation as it is the marketing side of things,” says Dan. Dan works with Semex Genetic Consultant Scott Hodgson, Sire Analyst Brian Behnke, Midwest Premier Consultant Jessica Lundgren and me in their genetic planning. Right now Reuters are using Semex’s highly reliable proven lineup, exciting Genomax™ bulls and high fertility Repromax™ sires.

“Dad always says there is no industry like the dairy industry,” says Dan. “We are all working together to help each other be more profitable. Surrounding ourselves with great people has allowed us to become more and more efficient, and to add more cows.”

Current Cow & Heifer Reproduction Snapshot (April 2013): Current Days Open: 111Current Days to First Service: 69Current % Herd Pregnant: 64%

Pregnancy Rate Since September 1, 2012: 32Heat Detection Rate Since September 1, 2012: 68%

Overall Conception Rate (Cows) Since September 1, 2012: 46%

First Service Conception Rate (Cows) since September 1, 2012: 49%

Overall Conception Rate (Heifers) Since September 1, 2012: 69%

First Service Conception Rate (Heifers) Since September 1, 2012: 69%

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.25Plus™ Best Use PracticesSemex recommends utilizing a universal insemination gun and tweezers (or ¼ cc gun and tweezers) along with the following standard handling procedures when using the ¼ cc straw:• Ensure a warm, draft free

environment for thawing semen• Be sure that all equipment

including guns, sheaths, and paper towels are warm before coming in contact with thawed straws

• Hands should be clean• Keep equipment free of

contamination, use clean thaw water

• Use a 1-pint, wide-mouth thermos filled with clean water and a dial thermometer to thaw straws

• Periodically confirm the accuracy of your thermometer by comparing it to a known standard

• Check to make sure that the thermos water temperature is 98°F (36.6°C) before each straw is removed from the tank

• Always use nitrogen cooled tweezers to handle the straws; fingertips should not be used

• Thaw semen in 98°F (36.6°C) water for 60 seconds

• Only thaw one straw at a time• Breed cow as soon as possible.

No longer than 15 minutes after thawing

• Use paper towels to clean vulva, use a clean towel to open vulva

• Keep the tip of gun that enters cervix & uterus free of contamination

• Ensure animal is in heat by picking up the cervix and uterus. If you get a clear mucous discharge from the vulva it’s a good sign she is in heat

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There are many ways to benchmark your herd’s reproductive performance. But, pregnancy rate is the best measurement to use when it comes to getting a sense of how well your whole herd is doing. This is because pregnancy rate answers the basic question of how many of your open cows are getting bred in a timely fashion. And, it tells you if those breedings are getting your cows pregnant.

If you want to improve pregnancy rate, you need to know where the big picture opportunities for improvement are. You need to either improve the conception rate of the cows you’re breeding, or improve the ability to detect cows in heat. And then, just as important, you need to find out how your herd compares to your neighbours’ herds and other herds in the industry.

So, how many herds need to focus on improving conception or insemination rates? How many need to focus on both?

To get a sense of how the industry is performing at the herd level, and where opportunities exist we looked at data from 2,300 CanWest DHI herds that collect good reproductive data.

These herds were divided into four different categories, based on whether they had

an opportunity to improve conception rate, improve insemination rate, or both.

First, though, we needed to classify what constitutes a low conception or low insemination rate.

A herd with a low insemination rate was defined as breeding less than 50% of the available open cows waiting to get bred during a year. A high insemination rate was defined as breeding over 50% of the available open cows during a year. Although the recommended goal for insemination rate is 60%, it was decided to use a lower number to account for different voluntary waiting periods between herds.

A low conception rate herd was defined as getting less than 40% of cows pregnant after breeding annually. A high conception rate herd was defined as getting more than 40% of cows pregnant after breeding annually. At 40%, the conception rate is slightly above the industry average of 37%, but this figure is achievable for all dairies.

A Low Insemination Rate/ Good Conception Rate HerdThe first group of herds (35% of the dairies) had low insemination rates, while their conception rate was considered to be good. The average days open for this group was 138 days with an average economic opportunity of approximately $170/cow/year. These herds should focus on getting more cows bred. To get more cows bred in a timely fashion, they need to either spend more time doing visual heat detection, increase the usage of timed AI or deploy an activity monitoring technology such as Semex’s ai24™. Most herds with high insemination

WHAT TYPE OF HERD ARE YOU ANYHOW?

Mark Carson, MSc., BSc. Agr., EastGen, Reproductive Strategy Manager

$171 per cow per year in reproductive opportunities

50% insemination risk40% conception risk

Average days open 138

of herds35%



of herds45%





of herds5%



of herds15%



rates deploy more than one heat detection tool, minimizing the chances of missing any open cows. Also working with your herd veterinarian is very important in order to make sure that you’re conducting pregnancy checks at the appropriate frequency.

A Low Conception Rate/ Good Insemination Rate HerdThe second group of herds (15% of dairies) needed to improve their conception rates, while their insemination rate was considered to be good. Their average days open was 124 days with an average economic opportunity of approximately $108/cow/year. For this particular group, the goal would be to focus on ways to improve conception. Primary areas to focus on would be improving the cow’s fertility through transition, nutrition and environmental management. As well, they should consider reviewing heat detection and timed AI protocols to make sure that timing is being delivered as effectively as possible. For owner inseminator herds, reviewing semen handling and placement on an annual basis is beneficial.

A Low Conception Rate/ Low Insemination Rate HerdThe third group of herds (45% of dairies) needed to improve both conception and insemination rates. Their average days open was 154 days with an average economic opportunity of approximately $243/cow/year. With opportunities existing in both areas, and with a lot of potential money to be made from an investment in reproductive performance, any investment made that improves both conception and insemination rates will give a great payback.

Interestingly, the data showed that if you had to pick just one area to improve, raising insemination rates gave the better return. The average days open for herds that have a high insemination rate was 14 days less than the high conception herds, for an economic difference of approximately $60/cow/year. Ideally, you should focus on improving both, but this shows that getting semen into cows by improving your insemination rate can be an effective way to improve your herd’s overall reproductive performance.

A Good Conception Rate/ Good Insemination Rate HerdThe fourth and final group of herds (just 5%) were considered to have both good insemination and conception rates. This shows in their low average days open at just 108 days and small economic opportunity of $36/cow/year.

Although this elite group of herds is doing well reproductively, there are always opportunities to improve. If your herd falls into this category, look at small adjustments in your reproductive program, and make sure you are taking full advantage of the genetics you’re using in order to meet your goals.

So what category of herd are you? Take a minute and review your herd averages for conception and insemination rate and see where your herd falls, and if you’re not at the elite level, make the necessary changes to help your herd get there.

WHAT TYPE OF HERD ARE YOU ANYHOW?


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What’s new?Chris Sheahan, Semex ai24™ Program Manager

We are very excited to share the newest technology that is available through Semex ai24, the H-LD collar.

The new ai24 SCR Heatime® H-LD-Tag® has many of the same functionalities as the ai24 H-Tag®. The new H-LD-Tags use an accelerometer to monitor the activity level, and can measure varying intensities and distinguish between specific head movements. Sophisticated algorithms that are part of the ai24 Heatime software used to analyze this data, and create an ‘activity index’. This index automatically tells you which cows should be on your heat list.

The exciting part about the H-LD-Tag will be that it can transmit the data every 20 minutes directly from to the LD reader at

ranges of up to 1500 feet! This will provide customers flexibility and simplify installation, and will make it the perfect system for replacement animals.

The feedback has already been very positive from customers looking for effective ways to increase heat detection and reproductive performance, and combat the high costs of raising replacements.


HLD tag


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85% heatTrue

detectionrate

Recordsruminationinformation

beforeclinical signs of illness

Info stored forat least one year

Reduction in rumination maybe an early disease indicator

Save time

Identify sick cows

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85% heatTrue

detectionrate





Save time

Identify sick cows

1 2

3

3 4

85% heatTrue

detectionrate





Save time

Identify sick cows

1 2

3

3 4

ai24 SCR Heatime H-LD Key Points• Can be incorporated into existing ai24 Heatime HR system or ai24

Heatime Pro (Data Flow 2) with the installation of an LD reader

• Range of up to 1500 feet

• Reads all H-LD tags in range every 20 minutes

• Provides current snap shot of your heat list

You Don’t Know What You Don’t KnowHow well do you monitor your pre-fresh cows’ feed intake? And with your fresh group, what if you could make minor ration adjustments before you saw health issues or a drop in the bulk tank? You can!

ai24 customers and Semex consultants have been raving about all of the additional information at their fingertips when they use the ai24 HR system. SCR research shows that, in general, cows will ruminate 25-80 minutes per kg of roughage eaten for a total of 450-500 minutes per day. This makes any drop in rumination very evident when you look at the data this system provides. Customers are finding the rumination data very useful when identifying areas of possible lost performance due to heat stress, overcrowding/stocking issues, excessive sorting and slug feeding. Also, our customers are telling us that they see fewer severe health incidences because they’re identifying cows quicker and monitoring their response more closely.

Until using the HR system, our customers are telling us that ‘you really don’t know what you don’t know’! We think that’s very true and hope to help everyone put this technology to use, making faster, easier and better decisions on the dairy.

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P U T T I M E O N Y O U R S I D E ™

WITH BOTH RUMINATION MONITORING AND HEAT DETECTION CAPABILITIES WE CAN’T PUT MORE HOURS IN YOUR DAY, BUT WE CAN PUT MORE TIME ON YOUR SIDE!

(877) 545-ai24 | www.semex.com

Working with Semex and ai24™ you can trust that your herd is getting the most out of its reproductive program. Your Semex team offers genetic consulting, reproductive analysis and valuable, real life, on-farm experience that helps you put time on your side. Ask about the ai24™ whole herd management solution with both rumination monitoring and heat detection capabilities today!

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Semex ai24 Newsletter - Summer 2013