Fertility Info

Fertility Info

Focus on Fertility

UK dairy herd performance has improved over the last 20 years by almost every important measure, with the notable exception of fertility.
Whether measured by Pregnancy Rate, Heat Detection Rate, Calving Interval, Culling Rate, or many others, national fertility performance is deteriorating every year.

Poor Fertility Costs
Poor dairy herd fertility has direct and indirect costs, through:

• · Loss of milk production

• Too many dry days
• Longer lactations, but poorer yields.

• · Enforced culling; leading to increased demands on replacement heifers.
• · Reduced calf sales
• · Additional AI costs
• · Extra veterinary treatment costs
• · Associated welfare issues
• · Linkage with other problems, e.g. nutritional imbalances and production shortfalls.
• · Disruption to calving season and milk production pattern.
• · Loss of mature animal milk yields through early culling.
• · Loss of valuable genetics.

Poor fertility Causes
The blame for declining fertility is often placed at the door of the substantial increases in milk production, brought about by recent breeding practices.
However, the issue is far more complicated than this, with other factors including:

• · Energy and protein nutrition
• · Excess protein
• · Retained foetal membranes
• · High milk yields
• · Age of cows
• · Metritis
• · Calving difficulties
• · BVD
• · IBR
• · Leptospirosis
• · Heat detection
• · Cystic ovaries
• · Neospora
• · Phosphorous deficiency
• · Poor body condition at service
• · Housing
• · Breeding
• · Lameness
• · Shortage of trace elements (Cu, Co, Se)

The causes of declining fertility performance are many and varied. There is no simple single cause and therefore, there is no simple single solution.

How to improve fertility

1. Identify Critical Records

Select the right performance measures for your farm. Measures such as Calving Interval and culling rate are very crude and are only the first indication of a problem. Voluntary Waiting Period, Submission Rate, Pregnancy Rate and Failure to Conceive Culling Rate are the most valuable fertility measures.
Milk recorded herds have extra sources of often untapped information of great value in fertility improvement. The fullest possible picture of fertility performance and the greatest potential for improvement comes from comprehensive computer records.

2. Establish your starting point and plan your approach

Compare your records to the national average to see how you compare, and what you should aim towards. Identify problems and areas that need attention.
Involve your whole farm team in improving these figures, including your vet, AI provider, nutrition advisor etc.

3. Managing heat detection

This is the one area that the majority of modern dairy farms fall down on, largely because of being overworking and having to look after too many cows per person. Three periods of 20 minutes every day should be set aside to watch the cows to observe for bulling. There are many aids available to help manage heat detection, varying from tail paint to specific markers.

4. Optimising Herd Nutrition

Assess cow condition at different stages of lactation, and address dairy rations as needed. Ensure correct protein to energy ratio. Assess mineral supplementation.

5. Managing Pregnancy rates

It is important to assess service management and AI technique, as well as using pregnancy diagnosis and oestrus manipulation to tighten calving intervals. Routine veterinary fertility visits are the best way to manage pregnancy rates, as intervention techniques are implemented early.

Routine Fertility Visits
Routine fertility visits provide an excellent way to manage your cows effectively. They allow early detection of pregnancy (35days post service) and allow early intervention with fertility problems. Managing your cows more effectively will mean they will produce more milk/cow/year.
We run routine fertility visits that are available for all our farm clients. They involve signing up for fertility visits at set time periods, for example every 8 weeks, at which cows should be presented for pregnancy diagnosis, for having not been seen bulling, or for repeat breeding.
Routine fertility visits have a reduced visit charge (£12.50), and are then either based on time(£65/per hour), or per cow (£2.66 per cow) ' whichever works out best for your system. During these fertility visits, time can be spent on addressing any problems related to fertility ' varying from housing to nutrition etc.
Our aim in setting up routine fertility visits is to improve the profitability of your farm, by getting the most from your cows. Even though milk prices are increasing, we are also seeing increases in many other costs, so the best way to improve profit margins is by getting your cows to work harder.