A herd health and production management plan

Developing a production calendar can be a daunting task, as there are so many variables to consider. The trick is to keep it simple, and that’s exactly what Dr Danie Odendaal, founder and director of the Veterinarian Network (V-Net), has done with the V-Plan herd management plan, which he has designed and improved over the past 30 years.

According to Odendaal, his V-Plan is based on two essential principles:

• Livestock have a specific reproductive cycle that must be maintained and optimised to unlock the full income potential of a herd/flock.

• Seasonality affects feed availability.

Beef cows have a gestation period of nine months and are dry for three months before being impregnated again, whereas sheep have a gestation period of only five months. In the past, sheep were left to recover for seven months before being placed with rams again; these days, most farmers have shortened the recovery period after lambing to three months. In these intensive breeding systems, sheep reproduce every eight months, or three times over a two-year period.

Odendaal says a few