Historically, to a lot of dairymen, calving ease has been a bit of a secondary trait. In many cases semen buying decisions were more centered on how much production or how much type a sire had. Calving ease was thrown into the mix almost as an afterthought, or as something to use on the heifers.
However, the most stressful part of a cow’s life cycle is the calving process and its postpartum aftermath. The quality of life of a dairyman might increase dramatically if we could eliminate difficult calvings, retained placentas, ketosis, milk fever, displaced abomasums, etc. There would probably be a little less concern over the diminishing availability of large animal veterinarians if these ailments could be eliminated.