Reproductive Management

New Approaches to Old Problems

Abstract

Veterinarians as herd health and reproduction consultants have important roles to play in providing valuable services to dairy farmers as they seek to improve herd management practices and increase the profitability of their herds. This paper briefly summarizes new information and new reproductive management tools that are useful to veterinarians as they work with their clients to improve reproductive efficiency in dairy cattle. Optimizing reproductive efficiency will continue to be critical to dairy herd management programs that seek to maximize profits. Although new management information and techniques will continue to become available, reproduction is likely to challenge even the best of herd managers. There will be a continuing and possibly growing demand for veterinarians to work with conscientious herd managers and their reproductive management teams to identify the weak links in the reproductive management program and to select management practices that will improve herd performance. Health and reproductive disorders, nutrition, and estrus detection must continue to receive primary emphasis.