Despite being designed and built to be robust and reliable, nitrogen tanks are more fragile than they appear. They need proper, consistent care to achieve a long service life. A malfunctioning tank can compromise the semen inventory and reduce fertility of your cows.

Producers can capitalize on available reproductive technologies to breed efficient, profitable cows. Multiple ovulation-embryo transfer (MOET) and ovum pickup and in vitro fertilization (OPU-IVF) are two such technologies that offer producers the ability to obtain offspring from high-net-merit females and bulls to achieve faster genetic progress.

How does one know when to breed virgin heifers? On many dairies, the decision is entirely subjective based on if the heifers look “big” enough, reach a certain age, or the pen is getting crowded and they need to move on.

Creating a pregnancy requires your keen attention to animal health and welfare through a cow’s entire lactation. The road to creating a pregnancy begins long before you actually inseminate the cow.

Timed A.I. can enhance pregnancy rates and efficiency, but protocols are not bulletproof. If results seem subpar, take a whole dairy investigative approach. Reproduction drives everything on a dairy. And nearly everything affects reproduction.

Taking steps to positively impact the dairy cow reproduction system is always a smart economic move. One of those steps is managing inflammation related to calving.

Dairy cows that become pregnant within a reasonable time frame produce more milk over their lifetime and are less likely to be culled from the herd. Thus, the goal is to have as many cows pregnant as possible by the time they are less than 150 days in milk.

Let’s be honest. Whenever we eat something, do we always check to see if it’s FDA or USDA approved? No. We may have a quick look if we care and have the time. Maybe we see the marketing labels and check the expiration date and the nutritional content, but that’s about it.