Timing of A.I. is critical for fertility in lactating dairy cows

Abstract

ONE of the most common questions we get about breeding dairy cows involves the importance of insemination timing for cows identified with increased activity using an automated activity monitoring system or submitted to timed A.I. after a synchronization protocol. Farms have widely adopted these technologies, and achieve optimal fertility to A.I., both require that the timing of A.I. occurs within a given time window, either relative to increased activity or induction of ovulation after the final GnRH treatment. We recently published a paper in the Journal of Dairy Science in which we present three data sets; one that is a randomized controlled study, and two other large observational data sets on timing of A.I. relative to induction of ovulation after a double-ovsynch protocol or after an estrus alert using an automated activity monitoring system. Let’s look at what we found.