A.I. & Breeding

In addition to the information that will be available from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding later this year, several dairy companies have already taken the lead in providing options for dairy producers to improve herd health through genetic selection.

Although some dairy herds do have excellent reproductive performance, the average Canadian herd is still showing unsatisfactory performance with an insemination rate of 44.1 percent, pregnancy rate of 17.6 percent and conception rate of 40.5 percent; those performances were shown to be similar in other countries.

The below timeline displays specific genetic traits and the year they were incorporated in official sire evaluations.

Genetic progress waits for nothing, making time one of the herdsman’s most valuable assets in being competitive and profitable. The good news is: Today’s reproductive technology makes all that possible – all you need to do is make the right decisions.

More than five years ago, Heller Farms increased their pregnancy rate from 10 to 18 percent by switching from a breeding synchronization program to activity monitoring.

Through technology and other tools, the amount of information available to make dairy management decisions continues to grow. That includes reproduction and genetics, where official evaluations will feature six new health traits beginning in April 2018.