To finish calving in April, stock bulls should be away from the herd at least two weeks by now.

For many Irish farms striving for a shorter calving period, breeding has finished since the end of June and beginning of July.

Now is the time to scan your cows, check the final reproductive performance of your herd, and see who will calve in 2020. .

Many farmers have noted how few repeats there were after three weeks of breeding, but noticed more cows repeating after six to eight weeks.

Pregnancy scanning results on some of these farms has identified in-calf rates at three and six weeks much better than anticipated.

This shows the importance of scanning cows in the early autumn to get a true picture of the in-calf cows in your herd.

Scanning cows at this time of year allows for more accurate detection of twin pregnancies.

It also allows for more accurate ageing of pregnancies, which helps with grouping cows more efficiently for dry-off.

Cows that repeated to AI and were served by a stock bull, sometimes unknown to the herdsman, can be identified when scanning.

Cows that are not in calf, cows with abnormal or dead pregnancies and cows suffering from reproductive diseases (such as womb infections and ovarian cysts) will also be detected upon scanning.

Speak to your financial adviser after identifying the empty cows in your herd.

In some cases, depending on a cow’s milk production and feed costs, there may be a better return on culling them from the herd sooner rather than later.

Body condition

This time of year is also an ideal opportunity to go through your herd and identify under- or over-conditioned cows.

Waiting until the dry period to manage body conditions in cows is too late.

Thin cows and fat cows are more likely to suffer from transition cow disorders around the time of calving and become problem cows for the following breeding season.

Cathal Ó Sé works at Riverview Veterinary Group, Bandon, Co Cork, a member of XLvets Ireland, a group of progressive practices working together to achieve a better future for agriculture and veterinary in Ireland. For further information, go to www.xlvets.ie.