In my previous article about reproductive data and decision-making, I wrote about going back to basics and challenging your farm’s norms. I encouraged readers to find the Band-Aid solutions on their farms and prioritize what should be exposed and fixed.

If I had written a book predicting the past two years in dairy farming, it would have been coined as fiction. In addition to a global pandemic, nobody could have predicted the wild swings in commodities coupled with the challenges in weather.

The reproductive health of dairy cows is one of the most important factors influencing dairy herd efficiency. As we continue to genetically select our cows to produce higher quantities of milk, research has shown that we are inadvertently decreasing cow fertility as we prolong the calving interval to maintain this high production.

While achieving a 20% pregnancy rate was at one time the goal, today’s herds are striving for so much more and achieving great reproduction through improvements in genetics, sync programs, on-farm management and by elevating the plane of nutrition.

Voluntary waiting period (VWP) is more than just an arbitrary time frame. Even under the most ideal of circumstances, parturition is undeniably among the most strenuous actives an animal can undergo.

Under the summer sun, we’re all focused on setting cows up for success while facing the risks of heat stress. It’s important to stay the course during the hotter months, especially when it comes to reproduction.

A successful reproductive performance is fundamental to keep a dairy farm profitable. But how exactly can we measure repro success? Basically, this is measured by how fast we can turn nonpregnant cows into pregnant cows. The primary metric used to do this is by calculating the 21-day pregnancy rate (PR), which is defined by the total number of pregnant animals divided by the total number of eligible cows during a given time frame.