Monitoring your submission rate during mating is very important, as it allows early detection of a problem. If your submission rates are poor, your reproductive performance will be poor. High-performing farms will achieve around 95% 3-week submission rate in their early calved, mature cows, with anything under 90% considered low and requiring intervention.
Mating may be just starting, but a couple of cows behind target each day, can make a big difference in your overall 3-week submission rate.
The earlier you identify you aren’t on track, the better. Don’t wait until the end of week 3, thinking she’ll come right.
In this herd of 453 cows, the herd dropped behind in week 2. The submission rate has essentially dropped 6% behind target, which means they are putting up three fewer cows per day. This might not seem like much but by the end of the third week of the mating period, even if this lull plateaus, they will still be at 84% not 90%. This drop in submission rate alone will lead to a drop in 6-week in-calf rate of 3.1%.
Keep track of your daily numbers of NEW cows
It’s not just about total numbers up each day (as that includes the occasional short return which can skew your numbers). The submission rate graph is a perfect way to visually see this (available when you log in to your MINDA account); you can also look by age – i.e., maybe one mob or group is dropping behind.
If you don’t have access to a graph, keeping track of how many new cows you put up daily is crucial. 4.2% of cows submitted per day for a 400-cow herd is 17 cows per day. If you have used a large chunk of CIDRs in your non-cycling cows or a PG synchrony programme your daily targets will be different to this standard, so please chat to your vet about what your daily targets should be.
If you are dropping behind – have a look at who is dropping behind (late calvers, young cows, one herd, or is it everyone). Not sure how? We’re here to help. Contact your lead Anexa Vet.
Other resources that you might find helpful:
Monitoring submission rate – what to do when the cows just won’t cycle
In One Ear & Out The Udder Podcast – 3 tips for making the pre-mating period count
In One Ear & Out The Udder Podcast – Managing cows on the day of AB
