Improving fertility of your dairy herd

What are the secrets of top-performing healthy dairy cattle herds. Join Dr. Santos in his presentation during EAAP in Lyonn in 2023 addressing the multifaceted world of dairy farming, where science, genetics, and management intersect. Dr. Santos reveals scientifically based insights of maximizing cow longevity, fertility, and profitability. From nutritional strategies to effective and sustainable dairy farm management.

Extensive mobilisation of body fat after calving can cause inflammation in dairy cows. Morbidity after calving is high. Post-partum diseases of dairy cows often result in systemic inflammation in dairy cattle, altering partition of nutrients to favor control of infection and tissue repair. This results in a decrease in milk production but also in impaired follicle growth, reduced oocyt and conceptus quality and poor development of the morula, causing long-term negative effects on fertility and reproduction of dairy cows.

Fertility is an important driver of dairy farm profitability. Poor fertility can significantly reduce the lifespan of dairy cows. Selko IntelliBond hydroxy trace minerals have a positive effect on reproductive perfomance of dairy cattle. Trials have shown that embryo quality in dairy cows is significantly improved with feeding Selko Intellibond. Other rials have shown that pregnancy rates of heifers and cows after artificial insemination are higher if they are fed Selko IntelliBond hydroxy trace minerals.

Semen quality of bulls can have a big impact on reporductive performance of a dairy herd. Bulls supplemented with Selko IntelliBond hydroxy trace minerals produced sperm with greater progressive motility, and greater sperm concentration. Cu and Zn hydroxychloride contained within Selko IntelliBond are more bioavailable and more readily stored within the animal compared with Cu and Zn sulfate, resulting in an improvement of sperm quality of breeding bulls.

Rising feed costs and the cost of producing forage are presenting a major challenge to dairy farmers. Improving feed efficiency is therefore crucial to ensure dairy farm profitability. Heat stress is becoming more common. It results in a reduction of dry matter intake in combination with systemic inflammation as a result of “leaky gut”.

Resistance to heats stress in dairy cattle can be increased by a breeding programme with focus on genetic traits for health, longevity and persistence of lactation

In moderate climates, heat stress in dairy cows can already occur at a THI of 62. For grazed cattle the DHLI is more accurate.

The "Global Mycotoxin Contamination Report 2023" by Selko provides an in-depth multispecies analysis of mycotoxin contamination in various raw materials and animal feeds worldwide.

During a webinar on October 27, 2022, Dr. Swamy Haladi, Selko Global Programme Manager Mycotoxin Risk Management dispelled the prevalent myth that ruminants are better equipped to manage mycotoxin exposure than other livestock species are. Learn why mitigation strategies must go beyond conventional binding approaches and how a multi-pronged strategy can leverage multiple mechanisms to manage and mitigate mycotoxin issues in dairy cattle.

Newly emergingmycotoxins of dairy cattle are neither routinely determined, nor legislatively regulated. However, the incidence of fusarium mycotoxins problems in ruminants is rapidly increasing. Watch the webinar of Professor Antonio Gallo about the impact of fusarium produced mycotoxins on the performance of dairy cows and a recent research update on mitigation strategies for mycotoxicosis. It includes the impact of mycotoxins on milk quality of dairy cattle.

Diagnosing problems with mycotoxins in dairy cattle is not always easy and requires testing for mycotoxins in combination with silage analysis for molds. Mycotoxin binders included in a mycotoxin mitigation programme should bind mycotoxins and improve gut health, immunity and anti-oxidant status of dairy cows.

Professor Fink-Gremmels discusses the impact of the "big 6" AFOZET mycotoxins, silage and storage mycotoxins and endophytes that grow inside plants, on dairy health and performance. The risk of aflatoxins causing food safety issues is also being discussed.