Breeder management workshops for the Towers and Collinsville

Dr Ian Braithwaite explains the theory behind how to readily identify highly productive females within the herd and retain ideal breeders and offspring for future replacement heifer selection.

Renowned veterinarian Ian Braithwaite returns to the Burdekin this month to run a pregnancy testing and breeder management workshop at Greenvale.

Ian Braithwaite, of Kick Gate Veterinary Services, will be run a two-day workshop at Jervoise Station t Greenvale.

To register, contact Chris Poole Tristan Gibson on mobile: 0408 580 329 or
email: chris.poole@nqdrytropics.com.au.

Reproduction performance is one of the key factors affecting the economics and profitability of beef cattle breeding operations in Australia. Producers are seeking help to manage their herds more effectively to achieve optimum breeder herd performance, especially reproduction performance.

For cows, reproduction is about the capacity to conceive and rear a calf to weaning each year following puberty. For bulls, reproduction is about the capacity and ability to sire a large number of viable offspring each mating year.

The two-day workshops will focus on the theoretical and practical skills of pregnancy testing and foetal ageing in cattle, and how to integrate the learned skills and information into decision-making practices about livestock efficiency and performance, landscape resilience and business profitability.

A bonus deep dive into the importance of herd recording and tools available to producers to collect data, and setting herd performance targets will be presented by Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) Beef Extension Officer Bec Clapperton. 

The workshop is being hosted by the Herding Change Through Grassroots Recovery project, funded through the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Watch this video that features veterinarian Ian Braithwaite when he hosted a workshop near Glenden for the LDC project in 2019.