Dairy Herd Reproductive Management Flashcards
What does the lactation curve of a dairy cow look like?
Upside down nike swoosh
-Peak 60DIM (100lbs)
When should a dairy cow be bred within her lactation curve?
60-90 days Ideal
90-120 Need to get bred
over 120 consult records before breeding
What are some common heat detection systems?
Tail Stripe (looking for a negative)
K-Mar - false positives if bumped
Beacon - positive if bumped
Estrus Alert - patch, must be almost fully wiped off
Activity Meters (Podometer and neck)
When lameness occurs what happens to activity on the podometer and neck meter?
Pedometer - activity goes down
Neck - activity goes up
What is the difference between heat efficiency and accurcy?
Efficacy - How good are you at finding heat
Accuracy - is what you are finding actually in heat
What happens when you ask a farmer to increase heat detection efficacy?
Accidentally decrease accuracy
How would a problem with heat detection accuracy show up in your records?
Conception Rate
-Can prove issue with accuracy by testing progesterone in milk
What things can you do to imporve heat detection?
Put more effort into heat detection
Use drugs (synch)
Use a bull
What is % sucessful or conception rate?
% of breeding that result in pregnancy
Services per conception inverse
How long is standing heat?
When does ovulation occur?
How long is sperm transport and capacitiation?
How long is the ovum fertile?
How long can frozen-thawed sper last in the female repro tract?
Standing heat: 7 +/- 5 hour
Ovulation: 28 +/- 5 hour
Sperm: 6-8 hr
Ovum: <12hr
Frozen-thaw: 36hr
When is it best to breed cows?
Earlier better than later
Within 8 hours of the standing event
Is it best to have 1 or multiple heat detection methods?
Multiple
What is pregnancy rate?
Percentage of cow eligible to become pregnant in a given time frame that do become pregnant
What interval of time is a dairy cows pregnancy interval?
21 days
As the PR of a dairy herd increases what happens to the CCI?
Decreased
Where do you want your farms 21 day pregnancy rate to be?
20s
15% average
23-35% rocking it
What are 2 ways you can improve pregnancy rate?
Conception Rate (Fertility - AI and nutrition)
Heat Detection (Service Rate)
How does culling effect reproduction?
May make your numbers look better but can run out of cows to work with
