Cow Herd - Boekenhout Trust Boerdery
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Our Simmentalers
BTB Cow Herd
The BTB Breeding aims:
- A Highly productive and efficient cow herd that can produce in commercial stress conditions similar to our clients environments. As no winter maize stover is available our cows must be able to deal with deep body condition cycles and stay in production.
- A herd with constantly improving genetics as measured by profit driven selection indexes. More profit for our clients remain our main selection driver.
The BTB Cow Management Strategy
Fertility selection
Increase fertility by removing all non-performers without favour. Increase fertility pressure by shortening mating period every year. Our short term aim for the cowherd is a mating period of 54 day. In 2015 the cows were mated for 65 days. The heifers are exposed to the bull for 42 days.
Efficiency selection
Remove all females that decrease income or increase management inputs. This includes culling all cows that does not wean a calf. We favour poll females as polled calves reduce our clients costs.
Improve genetics
BTB constantly strives to increase the rate of genetic progress with our selection and management practices. We select a high a high percentage of replacement heifers to lower the average age of our cow herd. Young 14 month old bulls are increasingly used to further short the generation interval. We strive to use bulls with top 20% percentile economic indexes and mate the best with the best. To increase the accuracy of our genetic options we are measuring more accurately and comprehensively.
Cow quality
We select to maintain structural soundness and phenotype.
We also gather additional data at wean including cow BCS, hip height, coat score and udder score at calf birth.
The excellence of our cow herd is based on our strict fertility selection. Our program results in high fertility bulls being offered on our sales.
The BTB Heifers program
- Matured on planted pastures to reach at least 340kg at AI date (12 months minimum age) Heifers that cannot reach this milestone are culled.
- All heifers are AI’d on the same date.
- Heifers are exposed to clean-up bulls for 42 days.
- Open heifers are culled.
- Heifers are culled for dystocia.
- First calves are managed as a group until weaning of their first calf.
The BTB Cow Program
- Selective AI on 50% of the cow herd.
- Cow is exposed to the bull for 65 days to calve before 20 December each year.
- Open cows are culled.
- Cows are culled for dystocia
- Cows must wean a quality calf.
In future the BTB fertility selection will be more based on the Days to Calving EBV as more data becomes available. Strict fertility selection in effect also selects for adaptability and stayability.
Star Cows Bred
[click on the name for more information]
BTB Mitsie (BTB0625) BTB Latoy (BTB0778)
BTB Marna (BTB0657) BTB Carabi (BTB0740)
BTB Halna (BTB06100) BTB Chrisbi (BTB07103)
BTB Barmie (BTB06117) BTB Bambi (BTB081)
Mission StatementOur Mission is to produce reliable leading genetics that will maximize value and sustainability for our clients.
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