Dairies Honored for Excellence in Reproduction & Genetics
GENEX first recognized Excellence in Reproduction & Genetics award winners in 2012, and each year the caliber of reproduction success and genetic merit have reached new and seemingly impossible levels of achievement. During that first year, the winning dairies averaged a 30% pregnancy rate and 45% first service conception rate for cows. This year’s platinum award herds average a 36.8% pregnancy rate and a 58.2% first service conception rate. The number of herds and diversity of the nominations have grown over the years as well. Once recognizing only U.S. herds, nominations now come from all corners of the globe. This has led to the addition of an international award category. Each year, once nominations from a GENEX representative or global distributor are received, individual herd performance numbers are put into a matrix calculation. The calculation considers the dairy’s pregnancy rate, service rate, conception rate, percent pregnant by 150 days in milk (DIM), sexed semen use and the genetic level of service sires, and ultimately determines the winning herds.
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HORIZONS
