Should dairy producers use conventional semen, sexed semen, or beef semen when breeding their heifers and cows? The simple answer is: “It depends.” UW-Extension & UW-Madison Department of Dairy Science Dairy Management Specialist Victor Cabrera shares in the Progressive Dairyman article, Pick a straw: Conventional, sexed, or beef semen? the factors to contemplate what type […]
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An animal’s genetic information is in the form of chromosomes, housed within the nucleus of every cell. Dairy cattle have 30 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 60. Chromosomes are made up of many strands of DNA. Genes, the basic unit of inheritance are specific portions of a cell’s DNA. Each gene codes for […]
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Twinning in Holstein dairy cows has increased over time concurrent with increased milk production. More than 95% of twins in Holsteins arise due to double ovulations resulting in dizygotic twins. It is now clear that low progesterone during growth of a preovulatory follicle increases the incidence of double ovulation. Increased hepatic metabolism of progesterone as […]
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Hormonal synchronization protocols have been incorporated widely into reproductive management programs by dairy farmers (Caraviello et al., 2006; Norman et al., 2009). The initial impact of timed AI protocols on 21-day pregnancy rates in U.S. dairy herds has been to increase the AI service rate (Norman et al., 2009); however, a deeper understanding of the […]
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Management, genetics, physiology and nutrition all play an important role in improving dairy reproduction on the farm. But the question today is, what is the role of nutrition in improving reproductive efficiency in today’s dairy herds? In the DAIReXNET webinar The Role of Nutrition in Reproduction, Dr. Milo Wiltbank, UW-Madison Department of Dairy Science, discusses […]
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