Items to tackle fertility constraints at modern, high yielding dairy herds

Abstract

Challenges in current dairy herd health and reproduction management include the significant increase in herd/farm size, quota removal (within Europe) and the increase in technologies to aid in dairy cow reproductive management. Key areas for improving fertility management lie in handling of substantial volumes of data, genetic selection (including improved phenotypes for use in breeding programmes), nutritional management (including transition cow management), control of infectious disease, reproductive management (and automated systems to improve reproductive management), ovulation / oestrous synchronisation, rapid diagnostics of reproductive status, and management of the male side of fertility. This review covers the current status and future outlook of many of these key factors that contribute to dairy cow herd health and fertility.

Introduction

Dairy herd health management is undergoing a period of radical change worldwide. Challenges include the massive increase in technologies to aid in dairy cow reproductive management, quota removal (within Europe) and the significant increase in herd / farm size. Following the removal of quotas in Europe, the EU dairy business has ambitious plans to expand dairy output significantly, this is to be achieved by a combination of increased herd size and greater milk output per cow. While this expansion has commenced, it is somewhat curtailed by the current downward pressure on world market price for milk. 

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