A.I. & Breeding

It is not uncommon for a producer to state, “I have been putting high emphasis on genetics within my herd, but the cows just don’t seem to be at the performance level they should be.”

Getting cows bred in a timely manner and pregnant at first service is impacted by their ability to show a heat. If your cows’ environment isn’t conducive to expressing heats with physical indicators like mounting, chin resting and sniffing – it could impact your herd’s bottom line.

Now more than ever, it is important to make sure each stall on your dairy is occupied by the most profitable cows. One way to improve profit per stall is to change the makeup of your herd and milk a higher percentage of older cows, as they are typically the best producers.

At the request of dairy processors, which claim they have a mandate from consumers, rBST has been removed from the toolboxes of many dairy farmers, and some suspect that reproductive hormone therapy could be next.

Following the April 2018 introduction of genetic evaluations on six new health traits, the upcoming August evaluations will include a new version of the Lifetime Net Merit (NM$) index.

Genomics has been an incredible accelerator for genetic progress in dairy cattle.