The Wyrill family were among the first farmers in the region to use sexed semen. Sarah Liddle finds out how the programme is working for them

THIS year mark’s the 15th anniversary of sexed semen use by the Wyrill family at Leases Farm, near Catterick, North Yorkshire.

Brothers Graham and Stephen, together with their father, Ken, were among the first farmers in the region to sign up to Cogent’s sexed semen programme.

For them, it was simply a way of ensuring their best cows left a legacy within their herd by producing heifer calves each lactation rather than, maybe at best, a couple of heifer calves during their life.

Graham says there is nothing more frustrating than nurturing your best cows through a nine-month gestation only to be greeted by a bull calf at the end of it – sexed semen altered all of this.

In many respects, the Wyrills have gone against the advice of the AI companies by using sexed semen solely on milking cows.

However, the rationale was, and continues to be, simple.

Cows already proven to be high yielders, with good low cell counts, longevity and functional type are bred with sexed semen.

Rather than serving 60 to 65 cows each year to conventional black and white semen to produce the 120- cow herd’s necessary replacements, 30 to 35 of the best cows are bred to sexed semen.

Beef semen is used on the remaining cows, as well as on the heifers, with the resulting calves reared through.

Of course, the brothers are aware that the cows need to be healthy, if they are to be bred using sexed semen.

Herd fertility was more than acceptable prior to the use of sexed semen, and it has been the policy to always check inside a bulling cow prior to serving her.

Everything internally must be in order before a straw of sexed semen – which is frequently more than double the cost of conventional semen – is inseminated into her.

Stephen has been practising DIY AI now for more than 30 years, and has changed little in his routine, since going on to sexed semen.

The emphasis with AI has always been ensuring best practice – semen on farm is thawed for 40 seconds, regardless of whether it is sexed semen or lower cost beef semen straws.

Herd conception runs at just over the 50 per cent mark, which is far in excess of the national average of below 40 per cent.

Over the past 15 years, there have been maybe two or three bulls born per year from the sexed semen – with the most black and white bulls born in a year being five – when a few cows have been bought-in served to conventional Holstein semen.

With maiden heifers kept on another farm, which is within the 383 acres farmed by the Wyrills, it is impractical to use sexed semen on them, so a bull is used for convenience instead.

Graham and Stephen have been keen to embrace technology and new practices in many aspects of their dairy business, in an attempt to move forward, but also as a way of maintaining their assets on what is a rented dairy farm.

Stephen knows more than most about the hardship and reality of tenant farming as he is vice-chairman of the Tenant Farmers’ Association.

His father, Ken, moved to Leases Farm and took on the NYCC tenancy there in 1963. He grew the business to support the family and bring in his two sons, while he now enjoys retirement.

Two years ago, Stephen and Graham invested in robots which, as Stephen says, can easily be relocated if need be.

With the herd at that time averaging 10,000 litres, there were two options to reduce the milk the high-yielding cows were carrying – either milk three times a day or install robots, so the big milkers could be milked in excess of five times a day.

The latter approach was chosen, with two Lely A2 machines installed. Today, the milking herd numbers 98, which is just a little under full capacity for the two machines.

They were installed in a redundant cow shed at the end of the cubicles and, despite one cow taking seven people to get her into the robot on the first milking, all took to the robots after a few days.

Structurally, the building has not been altered significantly for the robots. A few gates have been hung here and there to aid shedding and cow flow, while sleepers and breeze blocks have been removed from the front of cubicles to aid cow visibility.

Cows by nature like to watch the queue at the robot, heifers noticeably go to the robot between 2am and 4am, says Graham when there is less competition from the older cows.

The robots have not greatly influenced bull selection or the best cows from which heifers are bred, although one area has become more pertinent – rear teat placement.

If the rear teats are too high up the rear udder or too close together, this seems to hamper the laser and it cannot detect the teats to attach the teat cups to.

The brothers have no regrets about their move to sexed semen use – after so long, there is no incentive to change a policy which is clearly working for them.