A.I. & BREEDING

Over the past decade, reproductive tools used to get cows pregnant have evolved tremendously. Automated activity monitoring technology has developed to deliver accurate detection of heats.

The simple solution to boosting dairy cattle conception rates (CR) is to improve reproductive management and cow environment, as these two general categories account for 96 percent of CR variation.

Advancements in technology, data collection and the future were top of mind during this year’s Canadian Dairy Cattle Improvement Industry Forum and CDN Annual General Meeting.

As concerns over falling reproductive performance escalated around the turn of the century, dairy cattle breeders and advisers decided to take on this trend by putting more emphasis on reproduction-related genetic traits (e.g., Daughter Pregnancy Rate [DPR] and Sire Conception Rate [SCR]) and seeking out effective heat detection tools.

Almost all dairy farmers would like to improve the reproductive efficiency of their dairy herd, but they must manage many aspects to achieve this goal, including the nutritional program.

Increase profit. Reduce management inputs. Design a cow that eats less, doesn’t know what a hospital pen is and rarely gets the “open” diagnosis at pregnancy check.