Select Sires

Solutions to Improve Reproduction
(Part Three)
Transcript of Select Sires' Reproductive Moment Program
on DairyLine Radio Which Aired July 15, 2004
With Jeff Stephenson, professor of animal sciences,
Kansas State University

This week's Reproductive Moment is with Jeff Stephenson, professor of Animal Sciences at Kansas State University. Jeff, we are wrapping up our talk on solutions to improve reproduction. Picking up where we left off last week, we are talking about cow comfort. When the weather is fine, producers should still focus on cow comfort, shouldn’t they?

That’s right. That is probably more important than we really give it credit. Cows have got to be comfortable. We are talking about not only different seasons of the year, but they are comfortable when they have the opportunity to lie down to ruminate and rest. They have got to have free-stall space or dry-lot space that provides reasonable comfort out of the muck, mud and manure so that they can rest, ruminate and have that opportunity to recover from some of the stresses that go on day-to-day. Cow comfort is really important if you watch cows in free stalls. How many of them are actually lying down? How many are eating? How many are just standing there? There are some comfort indexes that people have used that simply look at the ratio of the cows lying down to the cows standing up and eating, and that is really important. When the cows are comfortable, they are either lying down or they are up consuming dry-matter.

How about the mobility of the cow?

Well, mobility is critical for heat detection. Cows have got to be able to walk and have footing conditions that facilitate standing and mounting activities associated with estrus, and prevent slipping and falling down and breaking a leg and those kinds of things. Oftentimes, in some of our older facilities, we are going to have to go back in and retrofit doing some concrete grooving. If the facility is fairly old -- when concrete grooving wasn’t done with the original concrete work -- they need to go back and retrofit grooving. That makes a world of difference. I have seen that in some herds, where cows were slipping as they went around the corners because the concrete is now old enough that it has no roughness left to it – it is almost glass smooth. They have gone in and done some grooving, and it just made a world of difference. You know, one cow that goes down that you have to shoot -- because she has broken a leg, or whatever -- will pay for a lot of this retrofitting that will prevent some of these kinds of injuries.

There certainly is a lot to take in. We just mentioned a few of the factors. There are many others. But this is probably why one of the biggest challenges for dairy producers is getting a cow pregnant. It is because you have a variety of functions that you have to follow.

That is correct. A good dairy manager has to be an engineer. He has to be a physiologist. He has to be part veterinarian. He has to be a good animal breeder. He has to have common sense. It is just a complex science that involves all kinds of different success stories in order to be really good at getting cows pregnant. So, we just wish we could clone the guys that are doing a good job because they would be able to help some other folks.

A lot of credit to you too for helping out the ones that are learning this process.

Thank you. That is part of the responsibilities that we have at universities, hopefully to educate the young minds that can go out into the industry and be good dairy producers, but also be the veterinarians and the professors of the future.

Jeff Stephenson, professor of Animal Sciences at Kansas State University.

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