Repro Management

What’s normal? Understanding pregnancy loss in beef cattle after ultrasound checks

kacie.mccarthy@unl.edu — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Addressing factors contributing to pregnancy loss, such as stress, nutrition and herd health, can create the best opportunity for pregnancy survival.

Is your beef cow herd making hay while the sun shines?

wcburson@zinpro.com — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0400

With feeder calf prices at record highs and USDA predictions for prices to remain at or above $3 per hundredweight (cwt) into 2027, it’s an exciting time to be in the cow-calf business.

Don’t gamble with your herd’s reproductive health: The value of breeding soundness exams

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0500

While statistically, most mature bulls, year in and year out, are going to be satisfactory breeders, if you're on the wrong side of those numbers and you bet wrong on that gamble, it can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

[Podcast] Red Angus Conference – with Rick Funston and Jordan Shockley

Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400

The October podcast goes to Denver, Colorado, for the Red Angus annual conference where David Cooper interviews Rick Funston and Jordan Shockley. Funston, a reproductive physiologist with University of Nebraska – Lincoln, explains numerous factors toward efficiency in repro rates, heifer selection and reproductive success.

Economic importance of cow longevity and depreciation

rick.machen@tamuk.edu — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

The verdict is in – an open cow is among the top three financial liabilities for cow-calf operators. Calf sales are the largest contributor to annual income; cows that fail to wean a calf are a financial burden borne by the productive cows.

Pregnancy rate or conception rate – which tool should you use?

adrianne.trennepohl@genusplc.com — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 09:08:35 -0500

Today, DPR is not the only resource to gauge reproductive success of efficiency in a herd. Cow Conception Rate (CCR) was introduced in 2010 as a tool to analyze fertility.

The value of reproduction

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 21:11:49 -0400

In cow-calf operations, reproductive rate is the foundational productive function of the enterprise. Obviously, if cows do not become pregnant, then no calves are produced for revenue generation the following year.

Using pregnancy testing for drought management

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 21:03:07 -0400

Most beef producers who routinely test cows and heifers confirm pregnancies when their calves are either weaned or preconditioned in late summer. However, experts recommend checking for pregnancy much sooner, especially during a dry spell.

Preparing bulls for the fall breeding season

jbhall@uidaho.edu — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 16:22:45 -0400

Fall calving continues to increase in the U.S. Approximately 30% of the herds in the U.S. are calving in the fall. Depending on where you are in the country, calving could start in late August, mid-October or anywhere in between.

Making wise breeding decisions

makalelivestockllc@gmail.com — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 17:25:55 -0400

Sometimes we all inherit the consequences of decisions in which we had no input. We recently took over management of a ranch, and this calving season we are subject to the consequences of breeding decisions that were made before our arrival.

Managing the postpartum interval for breeding season success

sthorson@genex.coop — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 20:09:20 -0400

Reproduction is arguably the most important economic driver of your farm or ranch. A common benchmark for tracking reproduction in a herd is calving interval – the length of time between the birth of one calf and subsequent birth of the next from the same cow.

Stop ‘throwing darts’ at your herd’s reproduction

lee.jones@boehringer-ingelheim.com — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:00:01 -0500

Do you read reproductive or animal health questions posted on some Facebook pages? Someone is disappointed in calf health or herd reproduction and asks something along the lines of “Why did our cows not breed back very well this year?”

Maintaining reproduction in a drought

jbhall@uidaho.edu — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:00:01 -0500

The drought of 2021 hit Western beef operations particularly hard. Reports from the field indicate pregnancy rates last fall were 3% to 10% lower than normal with scattered reports of greater reductions in pregnancy rates.

How to handle late calvers

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:00:01 -0500

When it comes to a cattle operation’s profitability and efficiency, reproductive life is one of the most important metrics for a brood cow. A continuous calving program with timely rebreeding contributes to a better cash flow and easier management.

Optimally time bovine in vitro fertilization with breeding

taylor.grussing@vytelle.com — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:00:01 -0500

As a producer, you strategize your mating decisions with expected progeny differences (EPDs), genomics, feed efficiency databases and years of production history to meticulously accelerate your herd as though you are calculating chess piece movements across a board.

Considering costs: Should you invest more in reproductive management?

thomasjor@missouri.edu — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:00:01 -0500

Have you ever sat down and figured out what it costs to breed a cow? It might seem like an easy number to calculate, since we can add up all of our natural service bull purchases and subtract out the salvage value of any bulls sold.

Early postpartum management for reproductive success

travis.mulliniks@oregonstate.edu — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 15:00:01 -0500

As calving season starts heating up in spring-calving herds across the U.S., livestock producers should start planning for the breeding season and managing the postpartum interval, which would be the time frame from calving to the resumption of estrus.

4 factors during calving season that can impact rebreeding

jeremy.howard@simplot.com — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 22:25:16 -0500

Calving and rebreeding are two of the most notable events for a beef cattle operation. These two times of the year have a major impact on profitability.

Matching frame size and BCS with environment, genetics

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 17:45:42 -0400

Cow-calf producers must consider additional factors than what breed to buy when adding females to their herd.

Ask the Consultant: Fall checklist for reproductive management

rswalker@noble.org — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 18:44:59 -0400

Preparing for any breeding season is a year-round process, regardless of what breeding season you manage your cows for. With fall rolling around, there are things to consider, plans to be developed and decisions to be made.

Heifer development involves selection and management

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 18:14:50 -0400

Successfully developing good replacement heifers depends on many factors, including age at puberty, herd health (biosecurity, vaccination, etc.) and nutrition.

Drought strategies for cow-calf operations this fall

jbhall@uidaho.edu — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 17:50:38 -0400

With drought plaguing much of the West, producers may have to adjust their management and use creative thinking to maintain production in spring- and fall-calving herds.

Why have semen sales gone through the roof?

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 15:00:01 -0500

There’s no denying the numbers – frozen beef semen sales are on the rise in a big way. Not only has this influenced dairy producers, it’s also having an impact on the marketing of specific breeds and their associations.

Execute behavior strategies to keep bulls in the game

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 15:00:01 -0500

Every year, large amounts of money are invested in bulls grabbing a producer’s fancy, and buyers wager on them to increase production and profit in their herds.

Investigating pregnancy loss in cattle

lee.jones@boehringer-ingelheim.com — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 15:00:01 -0500

Pregnancy loss is frustrating. We have waited a whole season for the cow or heifer to calve – only to find that she doesn’t calve or loses the calf near calving time.

Embryo grade and recipient expectations using an IVF program

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 15:00:01 -0500

Breeders who choose to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) technology create the opportunity to obtain more offspring from valuable females in their herd.

Have you tried the Sandhills Calving System?

scottj@uidaho.edu — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 15:00:01 -0500

Calving season is often accompanied by an unwelcome visitor. Calf scours can ride in out of seemingly nowhere and wreak havoc on young calves.

Cutting out costly subfertile bulls

glen@emeryanimalhealth.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 19:46:57 -0400

The value of bull breeding soundness examinations (BSE) is well known. Approximately one in five bulls do not meet the minimum BSE standards established by the Society for Theriogenology. Bulls not meeting these minimum standards are seldom infertile; they are usually subfertile and will have lower conception rates than those who meet these standards.

Post-calving nutrition and reproductive performance

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 14:00:01 -0400

Calving season is not only stressful and physically demanding for ranchers and hired hands but also stressful and nutritionally challenging to cows.

Making the sire selection process simpler: A web-based decision support tool (iGENDEC)

mspangler2@unl.edu — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 03:34:16 -0500

It is challenging, if not impossible, to have a profit-motivated cattle operation without using “modern” genetic selection tools. Admittedly, condensing data into information from which informed decisions can be made deserves more attention to enable cattle producers to better utilize proven technology.