A.I. & Breeding

As dairies seek to mitigate financial risk, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is moving to the forefront as a tool to capitalize on the best genetics in their herds through timely pregnancies, shorter calving intervals and reduced days open.

During 2018, Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC) members, who are also researchers, reviewed and updated DCRC’s recommended list of estrous synchronization protocols.

Most humans consider caring for animals a moral responsibility. But for farmers, it is more than this. It is a farmer’s fundamental purpose to nurture and protect animals. Their livelihood depends on being compassionate toward another living creature. A healthy animal is a productive animal.

Ranking bulls to make a sire selection decision is most easily done based on a single value from a selection index. For dairy farmers with a profit-driven focus, the best selection index is a representation of the money that could be made from the genetics supplied by the bull.

Let’s be honest. Whenever we eat something, do we always check to see if it’s FDA or USDA approved? No. We may have a quick look if we care and have the time. Maybe we see the marketing labels and check the expiration date and the nutritional content, but that’s about it.

When we look at reproduction on today’s dairy farms, we find more and more of them performing at a higher level than ever before. I can remember when we first started using pregnancy rate (PR) as the main measure for overall reproductive performance on dairy farms.