Select Sires

Reproductive Management Practices
and PTA Dollars
Transcript of Select Sires' Reproductive Moment Program
on DairyLine Radio, Which Aired April 8, 2004
with Jodie Pennington
professor and dairy extension specialist,
University of Arkansas

This week’s Reproductive Moment is with Dr. Jodie Pennington, professor and dairy extension specialist at the University of Arkansas. This week, Dr. Pennington, we continue our discussion on reproductive management practices, and we start off with talking about PTA dollars, or high Predicted Transmitting Ability for dollars.

We do recommend, of course, that producers use artificial insemination and try to breed to bulls that are in the top 20 percentile for Predicted Transmitting Ability for dollars. This allows the herd to increase genetically and hopefully the offspring, then, will produce more milk than their mother. It allows the herd to continue to improve and be more competitive in the years to come. DHI data from Raleigh does indicate that the Net Merit for heifers is $138 in the south. This is surprising, because it is $185 in the west, $146 in the east and $102 in the mid-west. It indicates certainly that the western producers are breeding to bulls that are of greater genetic merit than those in other parts of the United States. But, if we look at the cow averages, those tend to be about $30-to-$60 lower than the heifers. So certainly we can see that the heifers out of cows have greater genetic merit than the cows. This should allow them to produce more milk, and hopefully be more profitable.

Another wise reproductive management tool is to use your veterinarian to help maintain reproductive efficiency.

It is very important to use your veterinarian and have a good relationship with him. Here in Arkansas we are challenged sometimes to have veterinarians who palpate enough cows to be able to do this well. Certainly most areas with large numbers of dairy cows would have excellent veterinarians. We like to see them palpate any cow that has not come into heat within, say, 40-to-60 days after calving. Of course, any cow that has any type of discharge, or a cow that has any major problems calving, metritis, or other calving related ailments, should be palpated to make sure she is normal. Then, your veterinarian can help you out by pregnancy checking at 40 to 60 days after breeding to make sure the animal is pregnant. This allows you to hopefully get those non-pregnant animals back into the herd and try to get them bred before they’ve calved too long and go down in milk production.

What should one do if you see cows not showing signs of heat?

If you have a cow that doesn’t show signs of heat, have the veterinarian check her. In most cases, he can tell whether she has an active ovary, and he may even prescribe certain medications to help her start cycling and be more productive. In some cases, he may also want to look at your records to see if you have records of any illness or anything that has happened to her in the past.

A big thank you to Dr. Jodie Pennington, profession and dairy extension specialist at the University of Arkansas.

Select Sires Inc., 11740 U.S. 42 North, Plain City, Ohio 43064 / Phone: (614) 873-4683 Fax: (614) 873-5751