Counting the cost of infertility

摘要

Infertility is costing the average herd over 6 pound/cow a day in lost returns. With the current calving interval in milk-recorded herds standing at 392 days, for a 100-cow herd averaging 6,000 litres, this means over 16,000 pound/year lost equivalent to more than 2.5ppl off the milk cheque. With pregnancy rates declining at the rate of 1 percent a year over the past 20 years, researchers at Nottingham University, predict that if this trend continues, fewer than 30 percent of cows will hold to an AIservice by the year 2010.