March 13, 2021 1:00 pm A recent report by George Ramsbottom, a dairy specialist with Teagasc based in Oak Park, Co. Carlow, outlined that almost 390,000 dairy cows (more than one-quarter of spring-calving Irish dairy cows) calved later than April 1 in 2019 and 2020. George started the report by stating that ”what’s worse is that almost as many calved in May and June as in April”. ”It is challenging enough to breed an April-calving in the first three weeks of the breeding season, and impossible if she calves in May or June.” Does it matter? ”Absolutely, because achieving a high level of reproductive efficiency in the dairy herd underpins profitability of grass-based milk production,” George said.