Controlled mating

CLEM.Activities.RuminantActivityControlledMating

Adds additional rules to manage controlled mating

This description uses cows and calves as examples but is equally applicable to any ruminants (e.g. sheep with ewes and lambs).

This component adds controlled mating functionality to the Breed ruminants activity. This will determine the timing and individuals serviced by controlled mating with additional fixed and variable (e.g. per head) costs and labour demands influencing the outcome. This option does not require breeding males and females to be located together or even males present on the farm.

The following parameters are defined in this activity

This value determines the maximum age (months) for females to be considered in controlled mating. This vale used to be associated with the individuals breed parameters, but is actually a management decision.

This value determines the number of breeders that can be serviced by an individual male. This is required for simulations using Attributes of the male as it defines when these attributes are updated (e.g. genetic breeding values).

This parameter will determine what action is taken if there are insufficient resources to perform this activity.

You can report an error and stop the simulation, skip this activity or use the resources available. See What to do when resources are limiting

The following components will add additional functionality to this activity

Any number of Set attribute with value components can be added below this component to provide any mandatory, inherited Attribute details of the breeder males used (e.g. genetic index).

All mandatory Attributes in the breeder herd must be defined for males used in mating

Any number of Set attribute from herd components can be added below this component to provide any mandatory, inherited Attribute details of the breeder males used (e.g. genetic index).

All mandatory Attributes in the breeder herd must be defined for males used in mating

 

This activity provides the following identifiers: Number mated and Number conceived

This activity provides the following units for components: fixed and per head

Any Labour requirement will include labour allocation to perform this activity based on any specified identifiers and units and may limit the outcomes if supported and OnPartialResourcesAvailableAction set to UseAvailableWithImplications

Any Activity fee will include financial costs based on any specified identifiers and units and may limit the outcomes if supported and OnPartialResourcesAvailableAction set to UseAvailableWithImplications

This activity will occur in every time-step unless timers are used to restrict this activity (see Using timers).

The Breed for milking timer adds "smart breeding" functionality that will regulate the timing and breeders mated to try and achieve continuous lactation and milk production.

This activity will obey all Ruminant activity group in the simulation tree at and above it's location.

Only one instance of this component is permitted in each Activity.

Controlled mating will select individuals to be considered for mating from the herd considering any filter groups above the activity.

This task will be performed on individuals meeting the following filter rules

IsAbleToBreed< MaxAgeMating above

Or a list of breeders selected by the Breed for milking timer

You can further customise this selection by adding Ruminant groups

The following status values apply to this activity and are shown in Activities performed report:

blank The activity was not considered in this time-step usually because it is not a controlled mating month
not needed No controlled mating occurred
success There were conceptions from controlled mating
partial Only a portion of the required individuals were mated due to insufficient resources in variable (e.g. per head) costs and labour
warning No mating occurred because there was insufficient labour or finances for the fixed costs

See also