News December ‘21 - January ‘22
Fertility MATTERS
The cows are healthy and you’re feeding high quality forages. Your breeders are highly skilled, synch protocol compliance is spot-on, and your activity monitoring is dialed in. Your team is executing your plan perfectly and yet conception rates are not quite where you want them. Now what? It may be time to look at your sire selections and the health and fertility traits they bring to the equation. The genetics you chose to introduce in your herd WILL impact all areas of their performance including reproduction. The only question is, will it be a positive or negative impact? Some recently published data analyses1 for DHI records over the last decade showed some interesting trends in reproduction of the Holstein and Jersey breeds. I’ll save you the meticulous task of reading the report and tell you the bottom line. Reproduction in Holsteins has improved, and has not in the Jersey breed. In ten years’ time, Holsteins have decreased the number of days open by 19 days while Jerseys have decreased it by one day. First service conception rates have increased in the Holstein breed by 6%, and the Jersey breed saw no change.
1st service conception rate
2009
20192
Jerseys
40
40
Holsteins
32
38
While the Jersey breed has been notorious for fertile cows, the recent trend confirms Jersey breeders have put little to no focus on fertility traits in their genetic selections. In contrast, Holstein breeders have put great focus on daughter fertility traits over the previous ten years. Let’s take a look at the genetic traits that most
likely have had the biggest impact on reproductive performance trends in this report. Daughter Pregnancy Rate (DPR) DPR as a genetic measure represents a percentage above or below the industry average preg. rate. For example, daughters of a bull with a DPR of +1.5, are expected to have a preg. rate that is 1.5% higher than those sired by a bull with a DPR of 0. DPR measures only the outcome of a reproduction program (a successful pregnancy), so this is the most broadspectrum genetic trait related directly to reproduction and can be affected by everything from cystic cows to conception rates and abortions. Cow Conception Rate and Heifer Conception Rate (CCR and HCR) CCR and HCR eliminate all the unknowns and look solely at the number of animals that got pregnant, divided by the number of animals that were bred. This is the likelihood of a bulls’ offspring to conceive at the time of insemination and is again a measure above or below average with each unit representing one percentile. If your herd shows timely heats, minimal
Reproductive status of cows in DHI programs and bred using artificial insemination.2Calving interval average was for 2018
1
Cole Mark
Reproductive & Genetic Consultant abortions, and only struggles with conceiving at the time of insemination, this is a very targeted trait that may help. Genetics are overwhelmingly influential on nearly every aspect of a cow’s life, and reproduction is no different. Therefore, it is vital to take these traits into some consideration during sire selections. Many indexes, such as Net Merit Dollars, Dairy Wellness Profit Dollars® and Herd Health Profit Dollars™ do incorporate fitness and fertility traits into the formulation and are also a great way to sort bulls. But if your herd is struggling with reproduction, using DPR or HCR and CCR as secondary selection criteria to put added emphasis on this area can be highly effective over time. Remember, reproduction and genetics are a long game, and today’s decisions will impact the reproduction and profitability of your herd five, and even ten years down the line. Make sure the impact is a good one! Scan the QR code to see the full report regarding reproductive status of cows in DHI bred using artificial insemination.