Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Addressing Reproductive Problems
Addressing Reproductive Problems
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Focus on Fertility
U ni vets had developed for collating herd
information.
Following the first visit we were given
graphs and other information that gave us
an idea of the direction of the herd during
the previous nine months. The insight
we gained from the information showed
us that in November 2007, days to first
breeding was 85, and in July 2010 it is
down to 67 days. Our aim is to be close to
65 days.
Average days to conception of the
herd has also declined from 140 days in
November 2007, to 100 days in July 2010.
This has been reflected in our average
days in milk being reduced from 205 days
in November 2007 to 170 days in July 2010.
The drop in days in milk means that we are
consistently milking a fresher herd which
utilises feed more effi ciently.
Other important drivers of reproductive
performance are heat detection efficiency
and pregnancy rate. Heat detection
effi ciency is the number of cows detected
on heat out of the number of cows eligible
to be bred. Pregnancy rate is the number
of cows confirmed pregnant out of the
number of cows eligible to be bred. Our
aim is to have greater than >50% Heat
D etection and >20% pregnancy rate every
three weeks.
The first report in M arch 2008 included:
lactating and dry cow numbers, milking
herd structure, average days in milk,
average days to first breeding and
conception, and percentage of the
lactating herd pregnant.
The July 2010 report included a number
of graphs and tables, including adult cow
numbers, lactating and dry cow numbers,
milking herd structure, average days in
milk, 80-day submission and 100-day in
calf rates, average days to first breeding
and conception, percentage of lactating
herd pregnant, percentage of cows >150
D IM that are not pregnant or D NB, heat
detection effi ciency and pregnancy rate,
conception rates by technician, conception
rate x times bred, conception rate by days
in milk, conception rate by sire and, finally,
PGF breeding outcomes.
O V S Y N C H p ro to c o l
Inactive or anoestrous cows are enrolled
in an OVSYNCH program which consists of
the following:
!D ay 0 (Tuesday AM vet visit) Give
1ml of GnRH (Fertagyl, Gonabreed) into
muscle.
KAM AR.
7 (following Tuesday AM ) Give 2ml
of prostaglandin into muscle.
!D ay 9 (following Thursday AM ) Give
1ml of GnRH into muscle.
!D ay 9 (Thursday PM ) inseminate all
cows that have not had a heat.
We were very sceptical of the OVSYNCH
program when we first began using it and
mating cows that were not on standing
heat, but the results spoke for themselves
achieving up to a 50 per cent conception
rate at times.
Herd fertility has been an evolving
process for a long time for us but in the
past few years we feel we have taken big
steps with the introduction of such concise
reports. We have the ability to quickly
recognise where there is a problem or a
deficiency starting to occur in our system
and we can and do work on it sooner
rather than later.
!
!Place
!D ay
D ec em b er-January 2 0 1 0 -2 0 1 1
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