A.I. & Breeding

It is very well documented that the most important parameter to be evaluated in the modern dairy operation is pregnancy rate (PR). This is defined as the percentage of eligible cows that become pregnant within a given time frame, commonly the 21-day period of the average cow’s estrous cycle.

Describe your perfect cow. Maybe words like productive, healthy, fertile or efficient come to mind. Or, maybe your perfect cow can simply be described as profitable. While those are nice descriptors, it’ll take a more specific goal to really make progress toward your perfect herd.

Do you ever feel like the age of genomics has made dairy cattle breeding more complicated? Or perhaps more scientific? While genomics brought us accelerated progress, it has also introduced us to a range of terms previously used by scientists alone.

Give me just one number. That’s what we all want, right? One simple number to focus on and improve our chances of reaching our goal. While this common mantra has merit, it is truly a double-edged sword.

Progressive Dairy recently asked leading experts from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding to provide an update on their work to better understand dairy cattle hoof health and reduce lameness via genetic solutions.

There’s no question about it: Beef-on-dairy breeding is red-hot right now. Stud companies are not the only ones catering their beef inventories toward dairy customers.