Strategic Farm: Heifers – to breed or to buy?

Our 2017 Strategic Farmer, Mark Jelley, from Northamptonshire, joins AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager, Sarah Pick, to discuss why he made the decision to move from buying in replacement heifers to breeding his own and the impact this change has had on his business.  

Mark will also discuss how he manages the herd to optimise the lifetime performance of home-bred heifers including deciding which cows to breed from, what he looks for in a maternal sire and the importance of paying special attention to heifer management, ensuring they can calve at two and then again in 12 months’ time.  

Joe Henry, from Black Sheep Farm Health, will also join Mark and Sarah to discuss the essential things to consider whether breeding or buying replacement females and how to maximise the effectiveness of the breeding technologies available to suckler producers including artificial insemination and synchronisation.