Internal Expansion
Farm Resources and Expected Production Changes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20074563Keywords:
expansion rate, culling rate, stillbirths, infertilityAbstract
Internal expansion rate of dairy farms is controlled by the culling rate of the farm and the number of replacement heifers that can be raised to the point of calving. Commonly, farmers assume that 50% of their cows will produce heifer calves and count on having all these heifers join the milking herd two years later. However, this assumption is flawed and fails to account for other factors such as stillbirths, death during the calfhood period and infertility.