Dairy Team News - Reproduction/Genetics

Register now to attend one of the two regional meetings of the National Dairy Cattle Reproduction Co

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:30:00 -0600

The National Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC) will be holding two regional meetings in 2009; one in Minneapolis, MN on November 12-13, the other in Boise, ID on November 19-20. A copy of the agendas for these meetings can be downloaded from my web page under "News and Announcements" at: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/dairyrepro/index.cfm.

To register for these meetings online, visit the DCRC web site at: http://www.dcrcouncil.org/CONVENTIONS/index.html.

National Heifer Supply and the Effects of Sexed Semen

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:02:00 -0600

For those who missed it, Dr. Albert De Vries from the University of Florida and Dr. Ray Nebel from Slect Sires, Inc. presented an interesting analysis of the effect of sexed semen use in the dairy industry on future supply of dairy replacements at the 2009 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, NV. You can download a copy of the proceedings paper from the WDMC web site here: http://www.wdmc.org/proceed.htm. They estimate that less than 1% of all heifers entering milking herds by the end of 2008 were conceived by sexed semen. By the end of 2009, this will be increase to about 2% of all heifers and is estimated to be 6% by the end of 2010.

National Dairy Cattle Reproduction (DCRC) reproduction resources

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:09:00 -0600

I just uploaded to my web site three reproduction resource articles published by the National Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC). The articles are:

Managing Reproductive Performance During Times of Heat Stress
Tips to Improve Conception Rates
Top 10 Places Successful Reproductive Managers Focus their Time

If you use this information in your newsletters, please give credit to the National DCRC for the information. The article on heat stress is particularly timely considering the weather we're experiencing this week.

These DCRC articles can be downloaded from the Repro Topics page of my web site located here under "National DCRC reproduction resources.

Repro Redux Articles

Mon, 18 May 2009 11:00:00 -0600

In response to requests from county faculty for newsletter content, I have created a new section of my web site entitled "Repro Redux" where I will be uploading reproduction related articles. Redux is an adjective meaning "brought back or restored" from the Latin reducere "to bring back". This article series will help to restore reproduction to its rightful place of importance on production dairies.

To access these articles, go to my web site at: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/dairyrepro/ and click on the "Staff Resources" link under the red menu on the left. You will need to enter your UWEX logon ID and password to access this area of my web site.

This morning, I uploaded 10 articles (4 from Denise Brusveen, Sauk County and 6 of my own) in MS Word format that can be dowloaded and formatted for inclusion in your county newsletters. That should be enough to get everyone started. Please feel free to edit these articles as you wish to fit your newsletter space requirements. I will let you know when I upload additional Repro Redux Articles via the Dairy Team News.

Please feel free to email me and let me know what you think of the content thus far, or if you have any reproduction-related information that you think deserves an article. If you would like to contribue a reproduction article for this series, send it to me via email.

2009 National ADSA dairy cattle reproduction abstracts are now available to Extension faculty

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:27:00 -0600

In an effort to keep everyone apprised of the latest reproduction research going on in the UW Dairy Science Department, two abstracts that will be presented at the National American Dairy Science Association meetings in Montreal, Canada from June 12 - 16, 2009 have been uploaded to the Dairy Cattle Reproduction web page. Both abstracts involve Double-Ovsynch and will be presented by Julio Giordano, a PhD student working with Drs. Fricke and Wiltbank in the Dairy Science Department. The abstracts can be downloaded as pdf files from the "Staff Resources" page. You will have to log in with your UWEX netid and password to access this page. Please contact Paul Fricke if you have any questions regarding these abstracts.

Heifer Reproduction Information

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:21:00 -0600

I just posted a pdf of an update on Managing Reproduction in Dairy Heifers I presented at the UW-Extension Dairy Heifer Meeting in Kimberly on February 25 on my web site here.

The article "Cut Out Co-Synch" is number 7 on the list of most clicked on stories of 2008

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:28:00 -0600

Check out this special edition of Dairy Alert which lists the top 10 most clicked on stories of 2008. The story "Cut Out Co-Synch" made the list at number seven.

October 2008 Cowscope

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:01:00 -0600

Here is the October 2008 edition of Cowscope which is written by Ken Bolton, UW-Extension, Jefferson County Dairy and Livestock Agent. Please refer to our website for the newsletter at the following link:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/jefferson/ag/documents/CowscopeOct08.pdf

Enjoy!

Sex-Sorted Semen Survey 2007 Slide Set

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:42:00 -0600

A slide set overviewing the results from the 2007 UWEX sex-sorted semen survey of Wisconsin dairy producers can be viewed online at the following URL:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/dairyrepro/topics.cfm

Sex-Sorted Semen Survey 2007 Fact Sheet

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0600

A fact sheet overviewing the results from the 2007 UWEX sex-sorted semen survey of Wisconsin dairy producers can be downloaded at the URL below.

www.uwex.edu/ces/dairyrepro/topics.cfm

Sex-Sorted Semen

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:23:00 -0600

I was just emailed a question regarding use of sex-sorted semen, so I thought I would blog my answer since many of you are probably fielding this question out there as well.

Most of the AI studs claim that sex-sorted semen yields fertility in heifers of about 80% to 85% of non-sorted semen. In general, herds with good heifer fertility can achieve good results with sex-sorted semen, whereas herds with poor heifer fertility can experience disastrous results. This variability occurs because there is less room for technical error when using sex-sorted semen. Also, keep in mind that Accelerated Genetics is marketing their own proprietary sex-sorted semen they call Bovatel which only slightly skews sex ratio compared to all of the other studs, which are using the Beltsville method of sorting. The studs only recommend using sex-sorted semen in nonlactating heifers; however, I have run across a few herds that are breeding first lactation cows using sex-sorted semen. This is not something I would recommend, but it is hard to argue against if fertiltiy results are reasonable.

My impression is that there is alot of sex-sorted semen being used in Wisconsin. As for how widely sex-sorted semen is being used, Ryan Sterry, Denise Brusveen, Kent Weigel, and I are going to crunch the results from our sex-sorted semen survey at the Dairy Team meeting the end of this month. Many of you participated in administering this survey. Basically, we asked dairy producers who attended UWEX programs this past winter about whether or not they used sex-sorted semen and their perceptions of sex-sorted semen. The results should be interesting, and we will be getting that information out to the Dairy Team as soon as we can get it analyzed.

Finally, Weigel and I addressed this issue at the 2005 Wisconsin Road Show meetings. I have uploaded a pdf of that slide set entitled "Can We Change the Sex Ratio of Calves?" to my web site at: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/dairyrepro/topics.cfm. This slide set overviews data comparing fertility of sorted vs. non-sorted semen, and Kent included a brief economic analysis. Roy Wilson's MS data is also included in these slides, and there is some other interesting stuff in there as well.

Getting Problem Cows Pregnant

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:11:00 -0600

Perhaps one of the most frequent topics I am asked to speak to dairy producers about is how to get the “problem cows” in a herd pregnant. Framing the question in this way tells me a lot about how people think about dairy cattle reproduction and the factors that affect the rate at which cows become pregnant in a dairy herd. I have uploaded a copy of an article I wrote for the Spring 2008 issue of Genex Horizons newsletter that discusses this issue on my web site here. Click on the "Staff Resources" link on the left hand side of the page and log in to the page using your UWEX user ID and password. Once logged in, you can download a copy of the article.

When to Preg Check and Why

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:50:00 -0600

Accurate early identification of nonpregnant dairy cows post breeding can improve reproductive efficiency and pregnancy rate by decreasing the interval between AI services and increasing AI service rate. Results from several recent studies we have conducted, however, indicate that positive pregnancy outcomes diagnosed by transrectal ultrasonography 26 or 27 d after timed AI may be inflated due to pregnancy loss and/or diagnostic errors compared to pregnancy outcomes conducted 32 to 39 d after timed AI. The results of these diagnostic errors are manifested through high rates of pregnancy loss due to the overinflated conception rate observed at the first pregnancy check. This issue can be mitigated simply by choosing the correct time to diagnose nonpregnancy within a systematic synch and resynch program.

A paper I will be presenting to a group of veterinarians at the Minnesota Dairy Conference on May 22nd is now availabe on my web site here. Click on the "Staff Resources" link on the left hand side of the page and log in to the page using your UWEX user ID and password. Once logged in, you can access a copy of the paper entitled "When to Preg Check and Why".

Double Ovsynch is Coming to a Herd Near You

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:08:00 -0600

Chances are that some of you are hearing about a new sync protocol called "Double Ovsynch". Preliminary data comparing Presynch/Ovsynch to Double Ovsynch for first postpartum timed AI has been uploaded to my web site located here. Click on the "Staff Resources" link on the left hand side of the page and log in to the page using your UWEX user ID and password. Once logged in, you can access a summary of a study conducted in Milo Wiltbank's laboratory that is currently in press as well as a Double Ovsynch protocol for first postpartum timed AI and for resynchronizing cows failing to conceive to first timed AI.

Briefly, Double Ovsynch improved fertility compared to Presynch/Ovsynch, but only for primiparous cows. Milo and I are currently collaborating on a Resynch trial to determine if Double Ovsynch can improve fertility to second and greater timed AI compared to a Day 32 Resynch strategy in use by most herds. For more information, please contact Paul Fricke.

New Dairy Cattle Reproduction web site now on line

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:24:00 -0600

Please stop by and check out my new Dairy Cattle Reproduction web site at:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/dairyrepro/

I will be updating this site as new information becomes availabe this spring. Stay tuned to the Dairy Team blog for these updates. If anyone has any feedback regarding this web site, please email me at pmfricke@wisc.edu.