Roche's Fertility Booster containing "Crina Heat Plus"

In addition to being nutritionally formulated to support the cow through early lactation, optimising milk production and reproductive efficiency, Roche's Fertility Booster also contains a number of feed additives to further improve cow fertility. A unique combination of essential oils, vitamins, provitamins and antioxidants, collectively known as “Crina Heat Plus” this package is proven to promote milk yield, reduce Negative energy Balance, minimise Ketosis and provide antioxidants specifically targeted to the reproductive tract, supporting healthy eggs and embryos.

The blend of essential oils, combined with supplemental Biotin is aimed at optimising the digestion and utilisation of Protein from grass, and starch from concentrates to promote increased milk yield.

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‍Fed 21d Pre calving – 37d Post Calving

• ‍Increased ECM to 41.5kg/cow/day from 38.4kg
• Milk fat increased to 4.1% from 3.9%
• Milk protein 3.41 in both groups

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Fertility Trial Spring 20

Shane Crean farms a herd of 300 Freisian X  spring calving cows in Co. Cork. Calving for Shane starts from the beginning of February, with all cows being dried off in late November. Cows are AI’d and a bull is used to mop up at the end of the breeding season. After coming from a herd of pure bred Holsteins Frisians cows fertility on the farm in recent years has been improving but wasn’t where it needed to be. Fertility is the main driver of milk production on dairy farms and failure to get cows back in calf can have significant impacts on milk sales and cash flow in the subsequent months. With this in mind, a review of the overall fertility performance of the farm was carried out, using data from HerdPlus where the farms fertility has been monitored for a number of years.

From this data, one area for potential improvement that was identified was the early insemination and pregnancy rate of older cows in the herd, with a possible reason being a higher level of Negative Energy Balance in these older cows.

With strong evidence to support a reduction in negative energy balance in cows fed Crina Heat Plus in addition to stronger heat expression and support of early embryo growth, Shane decided to feed Roches fertility booster for the 2020 breeding season.

Conclusions:

• Submission rate is greatly improved at both 21 and 42 days showing an increase in oestrus activity
• Pregnancy rate at 6 weeks dramatically increased resulting in cows pregnant earlier
• Pregnancy rate total improved from previous year resulting in less cows having to be culled
• Shane is pleased with the results using Fertility booster stating “This is the best fertility the farm has seen in recent years”.

Return on investment:

• Based on the above data, in a 100 cow herd, the improvement in total cows in calf is 13%, resulting in 13 less replacement cows per year, saving €19,500 per 100 cows based on €1500 replacement cost. This figure is the cost it takes to rear a replacement heifer from birth to calving. If the reduction in yield from the loss of older mature cow’s from the herd was taken into account the cost saving would be far greater.
• The improvement in conception to first service (19% improvement on previous 2 year average) results in a direct increase in milk produced: Assuming these cows would have conceived to second service in previous years, this results in circa 21 days extra milk from 19 cows in a 100 cow herd from cows calving down 3 weeks earlier. At a conservative €0.30/litre and 20 Litre milk yield, this results in direct extra milk sales of €2394 per 100 cows.

For more information on our Fertility Booster Nut containing Crina Heat Plus and how it can improve fertility on your farm contact your local Roche's Feeds Technical Sales Advisor today or contact our office on 061 308 111

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