A.I. & BREEDING

CanWest DHI has been producing an annual reproduction benchmarking report for its customers for the past five years. Nearly 75 percent of herds on test contribute reproductive data used for creating these benchmarks.

Getting cows pregnant is arguably the most important task for a dairy farmer. Without pregnancy, there is no genetic improvement, no milk and no money.

Estrus detection has always been one of the most important topics to discuss when implementing an A.I. program in a dairy herd. With the changes in physiology correlated with the modern, high-producing dairy cow, visual observation of estrus has become more challenging.

In every dairy producer’s ideal world, the norm would be a whole herd of cows that efficiently produces high volumes of milk during several lactations with no transition problems, metabolic diseases, udder health issues or conformation faults leading to an early cull from the herd.

The Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC) annual meeting was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Nov. 7 and 8, 2013. The day-and-a-half event was intense with presentations and a sponsors’ trade show, but the outcome was a variety of topics and good discussion among university and industry people of what is new in research regarding improvements in reproductive performance and in overall dairy management.

2014 marks five years since the implementation of genomics in Canada, and has the world of genetic improvement ever changed.

Genomics was boasted by scientists as a technology that would revolutionize genetic improvement strategies and significantly increase rates of genetic improvement.