IGENITY^® for dairy

IGENITY^® — Fertility

Fertility, health and productive life traits are critically important to the success of any dairy operation. Producers know more than ever about the most profitable way to manage dairy cattle, but fertility remains a big challenge. Understanding the genetics behind fertility will allow producers to adjust their management plans to help improve reproduction within the herd.

Dairy profitability requires good reproductive management.

• Poor reproductive performance decreases the profitability of a herd.
• A missed heat cycle can cost as much as $29.¹
• A missed pregnancy costs an average of $450.²
• A difference of one percent (1%) in pregnancy rate is worth approximately $20 per cow per year.³

IGENITY — a valuable tool for raising the mark.

• The fertility analysis in the comprehensive IGENITY profile accounts for 3.6 pregnancy rate (DPR) points of potential difference in females and a similar effect in bulls (1.8 DPR points of potential difference).

• If a group of cows in your herd scored 1 for fertility on the IGENITY profile and had a 14% pregnancy rate, a group of cows in your herd that scored 10 would be able to achieve a 17.6% pregnancy rate. This equates to an increase per cow per lactation ranging from $27 (3.6 x $7.50) to $72 (3.6 x $20).

• Pregnancy rates are a common way to measure fertility, but some producers may prefer to think in terms of days open or calving interval. Pregnancy rate can be converted to days open simply by multiplying by 4.0. This means cows that score a 10 would have the genetic potential for 14.4 fewer days open, or a calving interval thats shorter by two weeks. The impact over the entire herd can be significant.

The earlier you start, the better.

Traditionally, predicting fertility was difficult in young animals — and producers had to wait until relatively late in an animal's life to measure results. But the fertility analysis found in the comprehensive IGENITY profile gives producers a powerful tool for management and selection of this valuable trait earlier than ever before in an animal's life. The fertility analysis, combined with powerful analyses for productive life, milk production and somatic cell provides producers with valuable inside information, which can significantly increase financial rewards throughout a cow's life — and throughout a dairy herd.

¹C. A spreadsheet-based model demonstrating the nonuniform economic effects of varying reproductive performance in Ohio dairy herds. J Dairy Sci. 2005;88:1244-1254.

²Fricke PM, Stewart S, et al. Pregnant vs. open: Getting cows pregnant and the money it makes. Proceedings, Western Dairy Management Conference. 2005:49-62

³What is a pregnancy really worth? [editorial] Hoards Dairyman, March 25, 2008.