1. Managing Reproduction in a Modern Dairy Herd Gregory M. Goodell, DVM The Dairy Authority, LLC

2. Components of Establishing Pregnancy Transitioning a cow properly through the post partum period Heat Detection/Timed AI Pregnancy Diagnosis Monitoring the reproductive process

3. Transition through post partum period Extremely important Large impact Multifactorial

4. Michael W. Overton, DVM, MPVM University of Georgia-College of Veterinary Medicine, Athens, GA

5. Heat Detection: How do I find cows that are ready to breed? Heat Detection ◦Observe for signs of estrous ◦Advantages:  Less expensive and easier to implement ◦Disadvantages  Time consuming, more skill required

6. Heat Detection Aides Marking Crayons/Chalk Pressure-sensitive pads Pedometers Rumen boluses

8. Pressure Sensitive Pads

9. HeatWatch Pressure Pad

10. Pedometers

11. Implementing Heat Detection on a Dairy Train personnel on signs of estrous Cannot cut corners here! Excellent tools for vets from stud services and breeding companies Review numbers often as a program starts to evaluate heat detection numbers.

12. Timed Artificial Insemination (TAI) Many different programs Success depends on management/style of the dairy Labor intensive Compliance a must

13. TAI Programs

14. CIDRSync Programs with CIDRs

15. Which TAI Program is Best? Veterinarian should couple the management ability of the dairy with the TAI program A producer will almost always go for the program with the best published rates but demand the most convenient program In general the more intense the program the better the rates

16. Compliance to TAI Programs Same time every day of week and time (including Christmas day and July 4 th !) All cows MUST be found. ◦Missed injections primary cause of compliance failure.

17. Example of Compliance Preg rate = Heat detection X Conception rate TAI programs force 100% heat detection If a TAI program requires 6 visits to the cow and we miss 5% of the cows at all visits then we’ve reduced effective heat detection rate from 100 to 70%. If conception rate is 40% then we’ve reduce preg rate by 12%

18. Preg Rates and Costs TAI ProgramCow VisitsPreg RateCost per Cow CoSync 72328-33% $7.22 OvSync 48428-33% $7.38 OvSync 56430-35 % $7.38 PreSync 12/OvSync 56632-38% $11.90 PreSync 14/OvSync 56632-38% $11.90 G6G640-50% $11.80 Double OvSync740-50% $13.96

19. Preg Rates and Costs TAI ProgramCow VisitsPreg RateCost per Cow CoSync 72328-33% $7.22 OvSync 48*428-33% $7.38 OvSync 56*430-35 % $7.38 PreSync 12/OvSync 56*632-38% $11.90 PreSync 14/OvSync 56*632-38% $11.90 G6G640-50% $11.80 Double OvSync740-50% $13.96 * If CIDR used add another $9.00

20. Pregnancy Diagnosis Rectal Palpation Ultrasound Blood Test Milk Test

21. Rectal Palpation Most common form of pregnancy diagnosis for cattle Conducted between 30-50 days after breeding Sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 96% when conducted between 35 and 45 d post AI Chronic Trauma to shoulder

23. Ultrasonography Usually performed between 28-35 days Sensitivity of 97.7% and specificity of 87.7% when conducted between 26 and 33 d post AI (Pieterse et al., 1990) Skills vary among ultrasonographers Rechecks still must be done Reduced shoulder trauma if extension arm used.

26. Ultrasonography Current controversy regarding stage to preg check Research shows no difference in economics when preg check between 32 and 39 days (Silva, et al 2009 ) At 39 days U/S not required and neither is early P2

27. Blood Tests for Pregnancy Detection of early pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) Pregnancy-Specific Protein B (PSPB) Proteins only produced by the placenta of the growing fetus

29. Advantages of Blood Testing Sensitivity reported to be between 96-99% Specificity reported to be between 97-99% Lay personnel can pull the sample Often combined with other modalities of pregnancy diagnosis allowing for coverage of more animals or larger herds Decrease physical wear and tear of shoulder

30. Disadvantages of Blood Testing Requires minimum of 24 hours to achieve result Does not provide any fetal staging Half life of some PAGs may be as long as 90 day postpartum

31. Commercially Available Tests bioTracking Idexx Conception

32. bioTracking Test name is BioPryn Located in Moscow, Idaho Characteristics ◦Se/Sp is 100/87.8 at 30-36 days post breeding ◦Used as early as 28 days post breeding ◦Must wait until 90 days postpartum Cost is $2.50-$3.50 per sample

33. Idexx Idexx Bovine Pregnancy Test Serum or milk Located in Westbrook, Maine Characteristics ◦Se/Sp is 99.3%/95.1% at 30 days post breeding ◦Used as early as 28 days post breeding ◦Must wait 60 days post partum before using Cost between $2.50 and $3.00 per sample

34. Conception Test name is DG29 Located in Québec, Canada Characteristics ◦Se/Sp is 99.4/100 at 29 days post breeding ◦Used as early as 29 days post breeding ◦Must wait 90 days post partum before using Cost between $3.20 and $4.00 per sample

35. Reproduction Analysis

36. Cost/Preg DOPN Sold $1500

37. Basic Concepts Case Definitions!! Pregnant Cows/Exposed Cows Pregnancy Rate, DIM, DOPN, etc. ◦Include cows in EWP? ◦Include Dead/Sold Cows? ◦Include Dry Cows? ◦Frequency of preg checks

38. High Production Herd Characteristics 40-45% of milking herd pregnant 180-200 Average DIM Cull rate less than 35% (???)

39. % of the Milking Herd Pregnant # milking cows pregnant/total # of cows milking. 30-50% is the goal (moves with DIM) Dry cows not included In DC305…DC305 ◦Sum by rc for rc=1-5 Lact>0\B

40. Herd Averages Days in milk at first breeding (DIMFB) Days Open (DOPN) Days in milk (DIM)

41. Herd Averages Days in milk at first breeding (DIMFB) Days Open (DOPN) Days in milk (DIM) Count AvDIMFB Av DOPN Av DIM ------ ------- ------- ------- 2851 62 119 180

42. Herd Averages Days in milk at first breeding (DIMFB) Days Open (DOPN) Days in milk (DIM) Count AvDIMFB Av DOPN Av DIM ------ ------- ------- ------- 2851 62 119 180 4412 63 146 200

43. Using DC305 for Repro Analysis Need to be certain of where CLEANUP parameters are setCLEANUP Commands like COUNT, SUM and PCT do NOT look at sold/died cows unless told to Switches in DC305DC305 ◦\B, \D, \L

45. % Milking Herd Preg and >150 DIM # milking cows preg and >150 DIM / #cows milking and greater than 150 DIM In DC305… ◦Sum by RC for DIM>150 RC=1-5 Lact>0 Goal 50-70% (moves with DIM) Dry cows not included

46. Specific Areas of Monitoring Calendar Month Times Bred Tech Breeding Code Interval Analysis Day of the Week

47. By Calendar Month for past 12 months Month 95% CI %Conc #Preg #Open Other Abort Total %Tot SPC ==================== ====== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ==== ==== 2012 January 35-45 40 142 214 72 41 428 4 2.5 2012 February 35-44 40 179 271 79 46 529 5 2.5 2012 March 35-43 39 204 319 108 47 631 6 2.6 2012 April 37-45 41 251 358 134 62 743 8 2.4 2012 May 36-44 40 220 336 110 47 666 7 2.5 2012 June 28-35 31 178 392 74 46 644 7 3.2 2012 July 13-19 16 100 531 117 20 748 8 6.3 2012 August 8-12 10 83 742 134 8 959 10 9.9 2012 September 14-18 16 158 837 203 11 1198 12 6.3 2012 October 27-32 29 314 754 310 19 1378 14 3.4 2012 November 37-44 41 333 487 166 6 986 10 2.5 2012 December 30-38 34 192 373 * 144 2 709 7 2.9 2013 January - 0 0 93 * 141 0 234 2 TOTALS 28-30 29 2354 5707 1792 355 9853 100 3.4 1002 non-AI breedings were omitted

48. By Times Bred Bred Number 95% CI %Conc #Preg #Open Other Abort Total %Tot SPC ==================== ====== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ==== ==== 1 27-40 33 62 124 4 0 190 32 3.0 2 30-46 37 51 86 0 1 137 23 2.7 3 22-42 31 25 55 4 1 84 14 3.2 4 18-40 27 17 45 2 1 64 11 3.6 5 18-47 31 11 25 1 0 37 6 3.3 6 22-56 37 10 17 1 0 28 5 2.7 7 12-55 29 4 10 2 0 16 3 3.5 8 15-58 33 5 10 1 0 16 3 3.0 OTHERS 6-38 16 3 16 3 0 22 4 6.3 TOTALS 29-37 33 188 388 18 3 594 100 3.1 35 non-AI breedings were omitted

49. By Technician Technician 95% CI %Conc #Preg #Open Other Abort Total %Tot SPC ==================== ====== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ==== ==== Efrain 19-31 25 50 153 5 1 208 35 4.1 Luis 17-35 25 21 64 4 0 89 15 4.0 Alfonso 35-46 41 117 171 11 2 299 50 2.5 TOTALS 29-37 33 188 388 20 3 596 100 3.1 35 non-AI breedings were omitted

50. By Breeding Code Breeding Code 95% CI %Conc #Preg #Open Other Abort Total %Tot SPC ==================== ====== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ==== ==== CIDR 12-49 26 5 14 0 1 19 3 3.8 Thur PM 40-63 52 33 31 3 1 67 11 1.9 Normal 31-44 37 85 142 8 1 235 39 2.7 TAI 20-30 25 65 199 9 0 273 46 4.1 OTHERS 0-66 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 TOTALS 29-37 33 188 388 20 3 596 100 3.1 35 non-AI breedings were omitted

51. By Day of the Week Week Day 95% CI %Conc #Preg #Open Other Abort Total %Tot SPC ==================== ====== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ==== ==== Monday 24-55 38 13 21 0 0 34 6 2.6 Tuesday 36-70 54 15 13 0 1 28 5 1.9 Wednesday 25-51 37 17 29 5 0 51 9 2.7 Thursday 33-52 42 45 62 3 1 110 18 2.4 Friday 22-32 26 81 225 11 1 317 53 3.8 Saturday 14-44 27 8 22 0 0 30 5 3.8 Sunday 20-55 36 9 16 1 0 26 4 2.8 TOTALS 29-37 33 188 388 20 3 596 100 3.1 35 non-AI breedings were omitted

52. DIM for 25, 50 and 75% Preg. Rate Survival Analysis on DOPN DC305 command… ◦Graph DOPN for Lact>0 RC=1-5\S ◦Survival CurveSurvival Curve

53. GRAPH DOPN\S

54. GRAPH DOPN FOR TID=3 WITH TID<>3\S

55. DOPN Cohort Analysis Caveats ◦Interpret results with other repro parameters ◦There is a lag in reproduction data equal to days till preg check post breeding ◦Should also apply monitoring techniques to parity groups

56. Conclusion Know the case definition Record the data often Look at the data often Check data against other criteria