Reproduction

Dairy farmers don’t think twice about fine-tuning rations or investing in a milking system performance review if changes to these systems offer a way to improve milk production and quality. Shouldn’t the same consideration be given to heat abatement strategies?

Over the past two decades, a reproduction revolution has occurred in the dairy industry. The development of fertility programs and their adoption by the dairy industry over the past decade has largely driven this reproduction revolution. Yet reproductive performance can vary dramatically among herds that use the exact same fertility programs. Although variation among herds in protocol compliance remains an issue, it cannot explain all of this variation.

More than 1,800 dairy scientists from 48 countries came together to discuss innovative dairy research at the June 2018 American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) annual meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The amount of research examining the effects of nutrition on reproduction in high producing dairy cattle is daunting. But here is a condensed summary:  Amino acids Methionine is well-known as a limiting amino acid in dairy cattle, and recent research indicates it plays a broader role in reproduction.