Owl Farm case study - Herd reproduction

This page from Owl Farm, the Waikato demonstration dairy farm run jointly by St Peter's School and Lincoln University, sets out how the herd is mated each season and tracks fertility results against target 6-week in-calf and not-in-calf rates.

It covers the artificial breeding programme, including sexed semen and beef genetics used to cut bobby calf numbers, and the on-farm steps taken around dry-off, metrichecking and heat detection to shorten the mating period.

^{Photo: “Nose-licking cow near Okato” by Dave Young, licensed for reuse under CC BY 2.0}