DHIA/Records

A couple of management areas stand out this month compared to last year, days to first breeding and a variable closely related to it, days open. Both have declined compared to a year ago, and they weren’t areas of strength then. An extra day in interval to first breeding translates pretty closely to an extra day open. Both increased by three days compared to a year ago. Most of the cows in dairy herds in Virginia are ready to breed by 70 to 80 days postpartum, yet too many reproductive management policies seem more concerned with the few cows that aren’t ready. No one wants to “waste” semen on cows that just aren’t ready to breed, but delaying all cows until 95-100 days after calving before first service just extends calving intervals. Use lists of cows not bred, sorted by days since calving, so that cows don’t get lost. Update those lists frequently. Consider more frequent vet checks, as intervention can begin more quickly on problem cows and open cows can go back on the heat expectancy lists or onto synchronization programs. Loss of bST as a management tool makes it more important this year to get semen into healthy cows sooner after calving. Efforts to shorten interval to first breeding must include other aspects of transition cow management that improve cow comfort, health, and fertility, and the brevity of DHI Notes doesn’t permit such detail. However, most herds can help themselves by making better use of reproductive records, finding those cows that are cycling and in good condition more quickly following calving, and by making sure that that group gets bred at first standing heat 60+ days after calving. No need to surrender the low hanging fruit just because other fruit is higher on the tree.

DHI Notes...