When it comes to increasing the revenue on a dairy, we often look to the herd’s milk production. However, we often overlook the reproduction as a pivotal component to achieving your financial goals.
The economic benefit of increasing the average pregnancy rate by 1%, is expected to provide a net financial return of $14.00 per cow per year (Cabrera, 2014). However, you could make more than $14.00 per cow, depending on your current pregnancy rate. For example, improving the pregnancy rate from 20% to 24% in a 100-cow herd could yield an annual return of approximately $6,200 per year.
A simple and effective strategy to improve your herd pregnancy rates is to increase the compliance of your dairy's synchronization program. Compliance depends on the proper administration of treatment and adhering to the sequence and timing of the protocol, or more simply the “5 Rights”— right treatment, right dose, right adminstration, right cow, and the right time. If one of these factors fails, the efficacy of the program will be compromised, and you will not get the reproductive results you expect.
Each fertility protocol must adhere to a defined sequence of treatments. For instance, if you select a fertility program, like Ovsynch, you will administer three treatments to your eligible cows at the following times:
Ovsynch begins with a treatment of GnRH or gonadorelin, followed by a PG or prostaglandin treatment 7-days later.
Fifty-six (56) hours later the program requires a second shot of GnRH approximately 16 hours before a timed A.I. service.
Your herd management software will identify the cows eligible for breeding along with what treatment they will need. Before giving any treatment, verify that you are giving them the correct product by reading product labels. Follow the manufacturer’s dosing and administration instructions for full effectiveness of the product. Be sure to follow the timing of the protocol as each treatment triggers a specific biological response in the animal.
When all treatments are administrated precisely, the overall program compliance will be 100%. Perfect compliance will give you the best probability to achieve conception and pregnancy rates that are comparable to those seen in various studies. However, if one of the treatments is missed or incorrectly administered, the efficacy program will be affected.
If the compliance of each treatment in an Ovsynch protocol decreases to 80%, the overall compliance would be only 51% (80% x 80% x 80% = 51%). Therefore, reducing your overall reproductive success. Compliance only gets harder when you implement protocols that demand more treatments, like Double Ovsynch.
Studies have indicated at most farms only obtain a 70% compliance rate (Macmillan, 2010). Missing treatments can delay a program and increase open or non-pregnant days, costing you money. Open days can cost an average of $2.10 per cow per day beyond 150 days in milk (Ribeiro et al. 2012). Therefore, it is essential to implement your synchronization programs correctly to get your cows pregnant as soon as possible.
You’ll be well on your way to improving your herd fertility and achieving your financial goals when you give the right treatment in the right dose with the right adminstration to the right cow at the right time.
