Whether it’s natural or mechanical, barn ventilation is imperative when it comes to the welfare of dairy cattle. However, ventilation alone does not always provide the necessary air movement for cooling and comfort needs. Animals can intrinsically demonstrate their comfort levels simply by their eating habits, conception rates and milk production. Without a cooling breeze, the simple ventilation designed into a building isn’t enough.

Cow cooling is not just about fans and sprinklers. Science, technology and even genetics can all be part of a dairy’s heat-abatement strategy. Earlier this year, industry leaders traveled around Puerto Rico and the U.S. with the Heat Stress Road Show.

University of Wisconsin – Madison Professor and Department of Dairy Science Chair Dr. Kent Weigel believes a trait for improving feed efficiency will be “the next frontier of genetic selection in dairy cattle.” Weigel recently addressed this topic at the Four-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference in Dubuque, Iowa, and he is on the docket for the upcoming World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production set for Vancouver in August.

Will genomic selection be the key to improving feed efficiency in dairy cattle? That was the question addressed by Dr. Kent Weigel, a geneticist at the Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin during his presentation at the Four-State Dairy Nutrition and Management Conference held June 11 and 12 in Dubuque, Iowa.

The topic of inbreeding has received quite a bit of attention over the years. Trends by breed and the negative effect inbreeding has on the bottom line have been well documented.

Progress is a good thing, and in regards to genetics it’s no different. Genetic progress has been the topic of conversation as much in the past five years as ever before because of how it relates to and results from genomics.

For a variety of reasons, dairy heifer reproductive performance is not a primary focus on many dairies even though it is critical to future success.

Are there technologies now, or potentially in the future, that will be more cost-efficient to drive pregnancy rate equivalent to or greater than current synchronization or fertility programs?

When it comes to your herd’s reproduction program, you might be satisfied with a 20 percent pregnancy rate, considering the national 21-day rate average is between 13 and 15 percent. But even 20 percent no longer sets the bar – that’s yesterday’s number. Today’s top herds are pushing that figure higher and higher into the upper 20s and even past 30 percent.

Genomics has sped up genetic progress, but has it impacted inbreeding? Did genomics allow for a larger pool of bulls available for selection?