Voluntary Waiting Period
Transcript of Select Sires' Reproductive Moment Program
on DairyLine Radio Which Aired March 30, 2006
With Ray Nebel,
Senior Reproduction and Herd Management Specialist, Select Sires Inc.

Ray, this week we are discussing a voluntary waiting period and when we should start breeding cows. It pretty much varies from herd to herd, doesn’t it?

That is correct, Bill. Three weeks ago I was in Minnesota, two weeks ago Ohio and last week Utah, and I saw herd sizes that ranged from 18 cows to 6,000 cows. Really, there is a large range in the voluntary waiting period. I would say from 45 days all the way to, you see very commonly now, 75 days. Therefore, from 45 to 75 days so with today’s thinking that is a pretty big range for voluntary waiting period.

So, getting advice from your next-door dairy isn’t necessarily that effective if the consequences come from lowering that waiting period.

That is correct. Of course, the herd veterinarian is probably the one that is going to give the first advice on where the voluntary waiting period should be. That makes sense because in their palpation of fresh cows they know if the cows are cycling or not cycling.  The whole concept starts with cows transitioned from the dry period into the lactating herd, and how quickly they start to increase dry matter intake, that increase in dry matter intake allows the cows to start cyclicity-so the sooner that this all happens and the smoother that all this happens the lower the voluntary waiting period can be.

Right now, what is the majority of the herds’ voluntary waiting period?

The voluntary waiting period at most of the records processing centers the default is either 50 or 60 days. The two most popular ones are Dairy Comp and 305, the default point where they think most of the herds are at is 50 days. PC Dart, out of Raleigh has a default of 60 days. Therefore, I say the majority of the herds are somewhere between 50 and 60. However, we see with high producing herds that many of these herds are now delaying the voluntary waiting period to 75 or 80 days because of the higher producing cows taking longer for them to get started. There is no reason to try to give a cow that needs an 80-day voluntary waiting period a start breeding her at 45 days because it will probably waste a lot of time and money.

So, the consequences of lowering anything below 45-days?

Very seldom do I see a set voluntary waiting period lower than 45 days. Some cows might be inseminated then, because if your voluntary waiting period is 45 days and you see a good heat on a cow at 40 days, many producers would go ahead and breed that cow. So, you will see cows bred prior to 45, but as a herd goal very seldom do I see it less than 45 days.

Cows with below average milk production, any recommendation on that?

That is a really good question, because normally what I say at a presentation is “how does a low-producing cow stay in a herd?” A low-producing cow stays in a herd because she gets pregnant quickly after calving and she has no problems. So a no-problem cow that gets pregnant soon, there is no reason to get rid of her. The reason that a low-producing cow usually sticks around is that she gets pregnant at 35 to 50 days, and on first service has no problems. You are right, on a low-producing cow; we probably need to breed those a little bit earlier.