Fertility targets

[I thats it]

What do people think are the best targets for monitoring fertility in an ayr calving herd. I really lost focus when our milk price was terrible for 2years and the wheels came off the fertility. Don't want that to happen again and feel the jobs going well currently. Just wondered what was the best way of monitoring

 

[Enry]

21 day preg rate - gives an up to date assessment of progress and shows up effects of changes relatively quickly.

 

[I thats it]

21 day preg rate - gives an up to date assessment of progress and shows up effects of changes relatively quickly.

Sorry but what's 21 day preg rate? (If you don't ask you don't know) then I could work out mine

 

[Rossymons]

Submission rate - the number of cows that have been served out of all the cows that eligible to be served. A decent target would be 50% and above.

Preg rate - the number of cows that have become pregnant out of all the cows that are eligible within a 21 day window. Target 15-20%. 20& plus and i'll give you a gold star.

Submission rate deals with heat detection - preg rate with conception. Calculating these manually is difficult but your milk recorders or your vets should be able to help through Interherd or some other software. It can be quite useful in identifying certain seasonal trends in your herd - do rates suffer at turnout? Improve at housing?

Calving Index has it's place. I wouldn't get too hung up on it as it can be very misleading. It only incorporates pregnant cows - cows that you barren off because off poor fertility slip through the net. You could have a fantastic calving index of 370 days yet only 60% of your herd is getting back incalf. Or you could have made big strides in your fertility got loads of cows back in calf which is great! But you look at your calving index and it's shot up to 450! Thats because you have got your cows pregnant but it's taken longer for them to conceive, thus longer days between each calving.

But I would start with submission rate and preg rate. They will guide to where your potential problems lay if you have any. From there you can then look at conception rates, service intervals etc

When you say the wheels came off - what area are/were you worried about?

 

[I thats it]

Submission rate - the number of cows that have been served out of all the cows that eligible to be served. A decent target would be 50% and above.

Preg rate - the number of cows that have become pregnant out of all the cows that are eligible within a 21 day window. Target 15-20%. 20& plus and i'll give you a gold star.

Submission rate deals with heat detection - preg rate with conception. Calculating these manually is difficult but your milk recorders or your vets should be able to help through Interherd or some other software. It can be quite useful in identifying certain seasonal trends in your herd - do rates suffer at turnout? Improve at housing?

Calving Index has it's place. I wouldn't get too hung up on it as it can be very misleading. It only incorporates pregnant cows - cows that you barren off because off poor fertility slip through the net. You could have a fantastic calving index of 370 days yet only 60% of your herd is getting back incalf. Or you could have made big strides in your fertility got loads of cows back in calf which is great! But you look at your calving index and it's shot up to 450! Thats because you have got your cows pregnant but it's taken longer for them to conceive, thus longer days between each calving.

But I would start with submission rate and preg rate. They will guide to where your potential problems lay if you have any. From there you can then look at conception rates, service intervals etc

When you say the wheels came off - what area are/were you worried about?

Heat detection was the problem. Mainly the lack of time spent doing it, think it's much better now.

 

[pappuller]

21 day preg rate - gives an up to date assessment of progress and shows up effects of changes relatively quickly.

Preg rate is a measure of future performance whereas calving index is more of a historical statistic

 

[Grassman247]

Submission rate - the number of cows that have been served out of all the cows that eligible to be served. A decent target would be 50% and above.

Preg rate - the number of cows that have become pregnant out of all the cows that are eligible within a 21 day window. Target 15-20%. 20& plus and i'll give you a gold star.

Submission rate deals with heat detection - preg rate with conception. Calculating these manually is difficult but your milk recorders or your vets should be able to help through Interherd or some other software. It can be quite useful in identifying certain seasonal trends in your herd - do rates suffer at turnout? Improve at housing?

Calving Index has it's place. I wouldn't get too hung up on it as it can be very misleading. It only incorporates pregnant cows - cows that you barren off because off poor fertility slip through the net. You could have a fantastic calving index of 370 days yet only 60% of your herd is getting back incalf. Or you could have made big strides in your fertility got loads of cows back in calf which is great! But you look at your calving index and it's shot up to 450! Thats because you have got your cows pregnant but it's taken longer for them to conceive, thus longer days between each calving.

But I would start with submission rate and preg rate. They will guide to where your potential problems lay if you have any. From there you can then look at conception rates, service intervals etc

When you say the wheels came off - what area are/were you worried about?

A 50% submission rate is poor if you ask me, we are constantly 85% plus, granted it’s block calving but if you don’t present enough bulling cows then you’ve no chance of improving fertility. Can never understand why AYR herds don’t make a better job when the cows are mostly housed it’s so easy to go in the shed and monitor them

 

[I thats it]

A 50% submission rate is poor if you ask me, we are constantly 85% plus, granted it’s block calving but if you don’t present enough bulling cows then you’ve no chance of improving fertility. Can never understand why AYR herds don’t make a better job when the cows are mostly housed it’s so easy to go in the shed and monitor them

Ours are only housed in winter, out 24/7 for as long as possible in summer.

 

[More to life]

A 50% submission rate is poor if you ask me, we are constantly 85% plus, granted it’s block calving but if you don’t present enough bulling cows then you’ve no chance of improving fertility. Can never understand why AYR herds don’t make a better job when the cows are mostly housed it’s so easy to go in the shed and monitor them

Because some Holsteins can be near impossible to catch bulling if there the only cow on. Never underestimate the advantage of block calving for heat detection.

 

[I thats it]

Because some Holsteins can be near impossible to catch bulling if there the only cow on. Never underestimate the advantage of block calving for heat detection.

Yes always easier when there's a few bulling, they find each other

 

[dinderleat]

A 50% submission rate is poor if you ask me, we are constantly 85% plus, granted it’s block calving but if you don’t present enough bulling cows then you’ve no chance of improving fertility. Can never understand why AYR herds don’t make a better job when the cows are mostly housed it’s so easy to go in the shed and monitor them

There are some good Ayr herds achieving good results. Being a block calver doesn’t make your fertility automatically better.

 

[More to life]

There are some good Ayr herds achieving good results. Being a block calver doesn’t make your fertility automatically better.

Know anyone that fits that description

 

[I thats it]

24/6 - 15/7 over that 3 week period I served 12 cows and got 8 of them pd+. Is that any good?

 

[I thats it]

Just looked at todays pd's, average calving to conception is 54 days.

 

[stablegirl]

You need to know how many were eligible, we are ayr we manage 26% preg rate, which is a 67% insemination rate and a 38% conception rate.

Once you get used to preg rate you wont want to use anything else but as said you need software to calculate it.

Uniform agri does it well.

 

[dinderleat]

Know anyone that fits that description

No only wannabe block calvers

 

[I thats it]

You need to know how many were eligible, we are ayr we manage 26% preg rate, which is a 67% insemination rate and a 38% conception rate.

Once you get used to preg rate you wont want to use anything else but as said you need software to calculate it.

Uniform agri does it well.

So my conception rate from figures above (8 out of 12) would be 66%, that sounds good.
But if I don't know the insemination rate/how many cows were eligible, then a good conception rate doesn't guarantee good herd fertility

 

[dinderleat]

Don’t forget that those cows not incalf you’ve probably missed 2 heats maybe 1 depending on how long you wait until you pd.

 

[I thats it]

Don’t forget that those cows not incalf you’ve probably missed 2 heats maybe 1 depending on how long you wait until you pd.

Of the 4 that hadn't held, 3 had been served again at 21 days so I've not had them to the vet. Was only 1 pd negative. As you say they're the annoying ones as you've obviously missed them bulling the next time.

 

[Rossymons]

You need to know how many were eligible, we are ayr we manage 26% preg rate, which is a 67% insemination rate and a 38% conception rate.

Very good figures, you're doing a great job!