Chronicle Editor
Farming Issues with Mhlupheki Dube
ONE of the important tasks a livestock farmer has to do almost every year is to select replacement heifers. These are heifers which the farmer will not sell but keep in his or her herd to replace the cows that are culled for the market.
The selection of replacement heifers is an important function because it has a bearing on the productivity of the farm in subsequent years. One has to be able to select heifers with desirable traits for optimal performance.
This week’s submission looks at one aspect a farmer should consider seriously when selecting heifers to keep as replacements for the outgoing cows.
While most farmers tend to be persuaded by growth indicators such as weaning weights and general visual aesthetics, it is important to note that one selection aspect a farmer needs to seriously consider is calving ease.
Calving ease refers to the ability of the cow to give birth to a calf with minimal assistance and no complications. A cow with remarkable calving ease is the one that will drop a calf in the shortest delivery time with no need for assistance.
While calving is a natural reproductive process that is supposed to happen without the help of the farmer, some cows tend to face calving challenges, resulting in birth complications, a phenomenon known as dystocia.
No farmer wants to deal with a dystocia case, because this presents complications which need trained personnel like veterinarians to intervene, at times with no success.
Therefore, selecting a heifer from a parentage known for calving ease, is a very good selection index.
The benefits of calving ease for the farmer include reduced calf mortality. Calf mortality is one of the most painful things that any livestock farmer would not want to endure.
A dead calf flushes down about eleven months of waiting and it’s a haemorrhage on the farmers’ investment and a regression in the enterprise growth. Uneasy births or dystocia cases can lead to the death of the calf or even both the calf and the dam.
Dystocia cases are normally a result of several factors which include poor alignment of the calf or poor nutritional condition of the mother. However, a cow with easy calving attributes rarely experiences this challenge hence the need to select for such a heifer when considering replacement heifers.
Easy calving reduces the risk of the calf dying during or soon after calving. Another benefit of easy calving as a production trait, is increased cow productivity because cows that calve down easily, usually get back into breeding faster, thereby reducing the calving interval.
It also reduces operational costs for the farmer as there is no need to drive and pick a vet for assistance every time the cow needs to clave down.
In some farming communities vet officers live as far as 50 kilometres away. Calving ease also promotes animal health as it reduces the calving stress. Calving ease also contributes to the profitability of your production enterprise because it reduces calf mortality, enabling organic herd growth.
There is also no extra cost of picking the vet officers as alluded to above and such savings in production translate into profitability of the production enterprise.
Also, cows that calve easily tend to have good udder health due to the absence of injuries which are common with prolonged dystocia cases. Anyone who has had a cow with calving challenges will tell you that by the time the animal is finally successfully assisted to calve down, it will be exhausted and bruised because of the restlessness caused by a complicated delivery.
The bruises and injuries can predispose the cow to mastitis resulting in poor udder health. All the above-stated benefits of calving ease point to the importance of this trait as a selection criterion for livestock farmers when they decide to choose which heifers to hang onto and induct into the breeding enterprise.
Next time you want to replace cows that you are retiring from the farm, make calving ease your prime selection index. Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
n Mhlupheki Dube is a livestock specialist and farmer. He writes in his own capacity. Feedback [email protected] 0772851275
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