The University of Kentucky Beef Integrated Reproductive Management (Beef IRM) team developed a multi-disciplinary program to help cattlemen adopt production practices that favor high reproductive rates in their cow herds. The educational model of this program combines traditional classroom with an extensive hands-on, experiential methodology. UK Extension employs this model as an effort to increase behavior modification. The UK IRM Farm Program is designed to be a long-term project (5-7 years) in order to accurately demonstrate the impact of controlling reproduction.

Mr. Lee Graves has been a part since early spring 2017, resides in Adair County, and runs a commercial cow-calf operation. Before enrolling in the program, the calving season for Mr. Graves herd was approximately 270 days, spanning March to December. Ultimately, he would like his spring herd to calve March 1 to April 30 and a fall herd to calve September 1 to October 31.

Lack of adequate handling facilities in the beginning prevented us from safely working the cattle. Thus, all cows were managed as one group during the first breeding season. To facilitate a synchronized spring breeding season, MGA was fed during four strategic feeding periods to maximize the pregnancy potential of the herd. The bull was exposed for 100 days (May 22 – August 30) in the spring of 2017.

During the summer of 2017, Mr. Graves worked with his ANR agent, Nick Roy and UK Extension Specialist, Dr. Morgan Hayes, to design a custom handling facility to best fit his operation. The producer put a significant amount of time and effort into upgrading his facilities. Installing this new handling facility enabled safe and efficient cattle handling. In late October, the entire herd received new ear tags, vaccinations, were dewormed and all cows were diagnosed for pregnancy. A total of 27 cows were diagnosed pregnant and remained in the spring calving herd, while 13 open females were separated to create a fall calving group. The addition of the working facilities also allowed the producer to safely cull animals based upon their disposition, feet/legs, and age. In the fall of 2017, the 13 cows in the fall calving group all received MGA for 7 days prior to bull turnout. These cows were exposed to the bull for 60 days (November 23 – January 22).

The results from implementing the reproductive management changes in 2017 are very encouraging. In the spring of 2018, cows calved from January 1 through April 14, an 81-day calving season. The fall herd calved in an even shorter window, from August 31 through September 27, only 27 days. The spring calving cow herd was synchronized again this spring (2018) using MGA. Additionally, a group of 10 replacement heifers were synchronized with a fixed-time AI protocol before being exposed to the herd bull. The group of spring cows will be diagnosed for pregnancy in the coming weeks and the fall herd will be synchronized with MGA for natural service again as well.

In summary, the calving season length has been shortened from ~270 days to two calving seasons that are 80 and 30 days in length. This reduction in calving season length was possible through controlling exposure to the bull and also implementing an estrous synchronization program. In just over a year, Mr. Graves has made significant improvements in his facilities, herd health, overall management, and reproductive efficiency. Calving and weaning percentage increased 9% and pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed increased nearly 145 pounds. We estimate an increased revenue of $2,750.