Monitoring fertility

Question 1

what are key performance indicators for fertility used for?

Answer 1

demonstrate efficiency (stay in business)
show good health/welfare
provide benchmarking

Question 2

what can be looked at on farm regarding assessing fertility?

Answer 2

animals - BCS, cleanliness…
building/environment
people - training, motivation

Question 3

how are the KPIs milk per cow per year of life compare to milk per cow per year?

Answer 3

milk per cow per year of life - litres of milk produced from birth until present
milk per cow per year - litres of milk she has produced in a year

Question 4

what are some fertility KPIs?

Answer 4

submission rate
1st service submission rate
calving to first service interval
calving interval
calving to conception interval
% served and in calf after X days
conception (pregnancy) rate
preg rate (pregnancy rate)
interservice intervals

Question 5

what is submission rate?

Answer 5

number of animals served out of those eligible over a 3 week cycle

Question 6

what is 1st service submission rate?

Answer 6

number of cows served from all animals who are outside the voluntary waiting period in a three week cycle

Question 7

what does low 1st service submission rate suggest?

Answer 7

disease in freshly calved cows
failure of heat detection

Question 8

why isn’t calving interval used as often as a KPI?

Answer 8

need a cow to have calved twice (doesn’t take heifers into account)

Question 9

why is getting cows pregnant without having a voluntary waiting period not wanted?

Answer 9

have to dry them off earlier in lactation when they are still producing a lot of milk

Question 10

what is conception (pregnancy) rate?

Answer 10

% pregnant cows of those served

Question 11

what is preg rate?

Answer 11

number of cows pregnant out of those who are eligible to be served over a three week period

Question 12

how can preg rate be calculated from other KPIs?

Answer 12

submission rate x conception rate

Question 13

when does maternal recognition of pregnancy occur?

Answer 13

14-15 days post ovulation

Question 14

what type of graph is very useful for teaching conception rate over time?

Answer 14

Cu-sum

Question 15

what information can you get from interservice intervals?

Answer 15

heat detection (should be three weeks)

Question 16

when do follicles start developing? and why is this relevant?

Answer 16

90 days before oestrus, what was happening with the cow 90 days prior could effect the quality of the follicle (nutritional, disease, stress…)