Latest News From Dairy Reproduction

Could reproductive hormones have an impact on the gut microbiota of cattle.

Compared to Holsteins, is calving time with crossbreds more difficult in terms of calf weight, stillbirth, gestation length, or dystocia?

While many alternatives to palpation have evolved over the years, a quick, convenient, on-farm pregnancy test kit has remained elusive...until now.

With the cost of inflation impacting every corner of a dairy, the producer’s breeding strategy has been forced to become finetuned. More and more producers are keeping just enough replacements to fill the pipeline,.

The intricacies of transition-cow nutrition and its role in lactation success may be made a bit easier with the Liver Functionality Index.

Here’s a breakdown of just how much these seven transition period diseases could be costing you.

To keep an efficient and profitable reproductive program humming, proactive reproductive management practices need to be practiced daily.

“The more we understand about how specific nutrition components influence health and performance responses, the more we can support cows in their production cycles.”

Over-conditioned cows that lose weight after calving subsequently have lower fertility, produce fewer quality embryos and face higher rates of health problems.

Moving to 100% polled genetics is an air-tight method of dispelling consumer concerns about dehorning pain. But the wheels of genetic progress turn relatively slowly in cattle.

As dairy caregivers, we see “Poor Doer Syndrome.” These are cows that struggle for unknown reasons until they subsequently develop an infectious disease, a surgically correctable condition or are culled.

A highly fatal intestinal disease of adult cows, Hemorrhagic Bowel Syndrome (HBS), draws concerns from dairy producers, veterinarians and nutritionists, as it is also known as the sudden death disease of dairy cattle.

Reproduction clicks along like a well-oiled machine at Schanbacher Acres near Atkins, Iowa, thanks in part to the farm’s routine use of blood pregnancy tests for the past 17 years.

Beef-on-dairy breeding is a growing phenomenon, not just in the U.S., but worldwide.

There’s no bull about it, artificial insemination has come a long way since its first use in dairy cattle during the late 1930s. While the technology has vastly changed, the basic principles still remain.

Unfortunately, ovarian cysts are one of the most common ovarian dysfunctions in dairy cattle. In fact, approximately one in 10 cows will become cystic at some point in her life.

If the industry could put together all the best parts of the genome, significant production increases could be made.

Veterinarians have at least eight options for doing a cesarean section (c-section) in cattle, but most rely on only one.

Nominations are due April 30.

Simply producing a black calf if not enough if the dairy industry wants to make permanent inroads into successful crossbreeding.

Animal scientist Phil Cardoso knew that milk protein increases when dairy cows are fed the amino acid methionine, but he suspected that the supplement might have additional health benefits.