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Reproductive status of cows in Dairy Herd Improvement programs and bred using artificial insemination ()

H.D. Norman, J.H. Megonigal, and J.W. Dürr

Background

Positive fertility is an important trait in all livestock species. It is a key trait for dairy producers as the following calvings are the primary means of raising milk yield each lactation to a profitable level. Fertility traits receive 5% of the relative emphasis in Net Merit dollars and 15% in Grazing Merit dollars. Seven different measures of reproductive performance are summarized from Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) herds from 2009 to present. Norman et al. (2009, Journal of Dairy Science 92:3517-3528) provided a comprehensive summary from 1996 through 2007 for many of the same traits for U.S. Holsteins and Jerseys. This report provides updated statistics for the reproductive traits by breed after 2008. Historically most reproductive performance studies were limited primarily to days open or calving intervals, often from research herds.

More selection emphasis has been placed on fertility in recent years following considerable decline in a few of the important reproductive traits. For example, days open, which is used to calculate pregnancy rate for genetic evaluations increased by 37 days for Holsteins from 1960 through 2000; around 75% of that increase was attributed to the change in correlated traits, a consequence of selection for higher milk trait yields.

The purpose of this annual report is to provide updates for several of the important ferility traits. The phenotypic averages provided are a reflection of both genetic and environmental changes. A few traits have shown improvement since 2008; others deteriorated for a time, but all now show slight or considerable improvement. Holsteins and Jerseys drive industry trends since they account for over 99% of the U.S. purebred dairy cattle population. Considerable fluctuation across time is evident for the other breeds, partly attributed to their smaller population sizes.

Table Summaries

TABLE 1. 20191 REPRODUCTIVE TRAIT AVERAGES AND STANDARD ERRORS BY BREED.
 
SAS Output
Trait Ayrshire Brown Swiss Guernsey Holstein Jersey Milking Shorthorn Red & White
Number of inseminations 1.8 ± 0.03 2.3 ± 0.02 2.3 ± 0.04 2.0 ± 0.00 1.9 ± 0.00 1.5 ± 0.04 2. 1± 0.06
Days from calving to first breeding 96 ± 1.0 91 ± 0.5 95 ± 1.0 81 ± 0.0 88 ± 0.1 99 ± 2.5 85 ± 1.5
Days from calving to last breeding 124 ± 1.7 139 ± 1.2 141 ± 2.3 114 ± 0.1 115 ± 0.2 122 ± 4.0 119 ± 3.1
Days from first to last breeding 33 ± 1.2 60 ± 1.0 61 ± 1.8 40 ± 0.0 33 ± 0.2 26 ± 2.2 48 ± 2.7
Conception rate for first breedings 0.42 ± .012 0.29 ± .006 0.28 ± .011 0.38 ± .000 0.40 ± .002 0.38 ± .024 0.32 ± .021
Conception rate for all breedings 0.40 ± .008 0.26 ± .003 0.27 ± .006 0.36 ± .000 0.38 ± .001 0.40 ± .017 0.32 ± .014
Calving interval 411 ± 2.2 430 ± 1.4 433 ± 2.8 396 ± 0.1 400 ± 0.3 398 ± 4.1 395 ± 3.7

1Cows first bred in 2019 for all traits except calving interval; for calving interval, cows first calving in 2018.
  • The fewest number of inseminations was 1.5 for Milking Shorthorns; the highest was 2.3 for Brown Swiss and Guernseys
  • Days from calving to first breeding averaged 81 for Holsteins; the highest average was 99 for Milking Shorthorns
  • Days from calving to last breeding were fewest for Holsteins and Jerseys (114 and 115) and highest for Brown Swiss (139) and Guernseys (141)
  • Days from first to last breeding, the breeding interval varied considerable across breeds; were fewest for Milking Shorthorns (26) and Jerseys (33), and highest for Brown Swiss and Guernseys (60 and 61)
  • Conception rate for first breedings was high for Ayrshires (42%) and Jerseys (40%), and lowest for Brown Swiss (29%) and Guernseys (28%)
  • Breeds had similar results for conception rate for all breedings as for first breedings, but generally slightly lower
  • Calving interval (days) was shortest for Holsteins (396) and Red & Whites (395), and longest for Brown Swiss (430) and Guernseys (433)


 
TABLE 2. AVERAGE NUMBERS OF INSEMINATIONS PER CONCEPTION BY BREED AND YEAR OF FIRST BREEDING.
 
SAS Output
Breed 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ayrshire 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.9 1.9 1.8
Brown Swiss 2.4 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.3
Guernsey 2.6 2.6 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.4 2.2 2.3
Holstein 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.1 2.0
Jersey 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.1 1.9 1.9
Milking Shorthorn 1.9 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.9 1.7 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.5
Red & White 2.2 2.2 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.0 2.1

  • Inseminations per conception (or number of services/conception) declined from 2009, by 0.1 to 0.5 in all breeds
  • The greatest decline was for Holstains, Jerseys, and Milking Shorhorns (0.4 or 0.5)

 
TABLE 3. AVERAGE DAYS FROM CALVING TO FIRST BREEDING BY BREED AND BREEDING YEAR.
 
SAS Output
Breed 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ayrshire 92 94 95 95 92 91 93 94 90 93 96
Brown Swiss 90 89 89 87 88 89 88 88 87 89 91
Guernsey 88 90 91 92 88 93 92 91 94 93 95
Holstein 81 81 79 78 78 78 78 78 78 80 81
Jersey 76 77 76 75 74 76 79 82 86 87 88
Milking Shorthorn 88 93 99 95 91 92 91 90 92 88 99
Red & White 86 84 85 85 84 85 84 84 81 80 85

  • Days from calving to first breeding increased by 1 to 12 days since 2009 in all breeds except Holsteins which remained the same and Red & Whites which decreased by 1
  • Some of the early decreases resulted from the practices of heat synchronization and timed AI

 
TABLE 4. AVERAGE DAYS FROM CALVING TO LAST BREEDING BY BREED AND YEAR OF FIRST BREEDING.
 
SAS Output
Breed 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ayrshire 132 133 134 133 127 126 125 127 124 126 124
Brown Swiss 146 147 144 140 143 141 141 141 136 139 139
Guernsey 147 145 144 146 142 144 141 140 141 135 141
Holstein 133 132 130 126 126 124 123 120 117 114 114
Jersey 116 115 113 110 110 111 114 116 119 113 115
Milking Shorthorn 121 123 132 121 123 118 120 120 116 115 122
Red & White 136 129 128 127 126 127 125 124 118 113 119

  • Days from calving to last breeding decreased by 1 to 19 days for all breeds except Milking Shorthorns from 10 years earlier
  • The Holsteins and Red & Whites showed the largest decreases of 19 and 17 days, respectively

 
TABLE 5. AVERAGE DAYS FROM FIRST TO LAST BREEDING BY BREED AND YEAR OF FIRST BREEDING.
 
SAS Output
Breed 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ayrshire 47 50 47 47 44 43 41 40 41 41 33
Brown Swiss 69 72 69 66 67 66 65 63 62 63 60
Guernsey 73 71 65 65 68 68 64 63 63 57 61
Holstein 62 62 61 58 58 56 55 52 48 42 40
Jersey 48 47 45 43 45 44 43 44 42 33 33
Milking Shorthorn 41 36 38 30 40 33 36 36 31 33 26
Red & White 57 53 48 48 51 50 49 49 49 42 48

  • Breeding intervals are shorter in 2019 by 9 to 22 days than in 2009 for all breeds.
  • The Holsteins showed the largest decrease with 22 days.

 
TABLE 6. AVERAGE CONCEPTION RATES FOR FIRST BREEDINGS BY BREED AND BREEDING YEAR.
 
SAS Output
Breed 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ayrshire 0.38 0.36 0.37 0.38 0.41 0.41 0.40 0.42 0.39 0.39 0.42
Brown Swiss 0.29 0.29 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.29 0.30 0.31 0.30 0.29
Guernsey 0.25 0.27 0.29 0.29 0.28 0.29 0.30 0.29 0.27 0.31 0.28
Holstein 0.32 0.32 0.32 0.33 0.33 0.34 0.34 0.36 0.37 0.38 0.38
Jersey 0.40 0.41 0.42 0.43 0.42 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.41 0.42 0.40
Milking Shorthorn 0.38 0.42 0.39 0.43 0.39 0.43 0.39 0.40 0.40 0.41 0.38
Red & White 0.35 0.33 0.35 0.37 0.36 0.35 0.34 0.34 0.34 0.37 0.32

  • Conception rate was highest for Ayshires (42%) and Jerseys (40%)
  • Conception to first breeding improved for 3 of 7 breeds in the last decade (by 3 to 6%) and remained the same for 3 more. Lowest conception rates for Holsteins were from 2009 to 2011 (32%) and the highest was in 2019 (38%)

 
TABLE 7. AVERAGE CONCEPTION RATES FOR ALL BREEDINGS BY BREED AND YEAR OF FIRST BREEDING.
 
SAS Output
Breed 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Ayrshire 0.37 0.36 0.37 0.36 0.38 0.40 0.39 0.40 0.38 0.36 0.40
Brown Swiss 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.28 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.28 0.27 0.26
Guernsey 0.24 0.25 0.26 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.26 0.27 0.27
Holstein 0.31 0.30 0.30 0.31 0.31 0.32 0.32 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.36
Jersey 0.36 0.37 0.37 0.38 0.37 0.37 0.37 0.36 0.36 0.39 0.38
Milking Shorthorn 0.36 0.39 0.38 0.41 0.37 0.40 0.37 0.38 0.38 0.40 0.40
Red & White 0.34 0.34 0.33 0.34 0.33 0.33 0.33 0.34 0.33 0.36 0.32

  • The conception rates for all breedings in 2019 were lower (1 to 3%) than those from first breedings in 5 of the 7 breeds but yet improved in the last decade for 5 of the 7 breeds (by 2 to 5%)

 
TABLE 8. AVERAGE CALVING INTERVALS (DAYS) BY BREED AND YEAR OF FIRST CALVING.
 
SAS Output
Breed 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Ayrshire 413 418 421 417 410 410 409 410 411 411
Brown Swiss 440 432 434 430 430 432 430 431 427 430
Guernsey 435 432 436 432 430 430 432 436 436 433
Holstein 412 409 408 404 403 401 399 398 396 396
Jersey 396 393 392 390 388 391 395 395 398 400
Milking Shorthorn 408 402 420 406 406 407 410 408 408 398
Red & White 412 415 416 409 408 411 409 409 399 395

  • The long-term increases in calving interval reported by Nieuwhof et al. (1989) and Hare et al. (2006) have ended and have decreased recently
    • Length of calving interval for Holsteins has decreased from 412 days in 2009 to 396 days in 2018
    • Jersey calving intervals decreased from 396 days in 2009 to 388 days in 2013, but increased by 12 days from 2013 to 2018
    • Brown Swiss calving intervals decreased from 440 days in 2009 to 430 days in 2018
  • The positive economic impact from these reduced calving intervals is large, as it reflects a valuable measure of the overall reproductive picture
  • Continued improvement of this trait is especially important to herds engaged in seasonal calving

 
TABLE 9. NUMBERS OF RECORDS (2009–2019): A) AYRSHIRE, B) BROWN SWISS, C) GUERNSEY, D) HOLSTEIN, E) JERSEY), F) MILKING SHORTHORN, AND G) RED & WHITE USED TO CALCULATE REPRODUCTIVE STATISTICS BY BREED, TRAIT, AND YEAR.
  • Information in Tables 1 through 8 was based on the numbers of records in Tables 9A through 9G.
  • The number of reproductive provided records over the last decade provides an opportunity for more genetic improvement in dairy cattle fertility.

A) AYRSHIRE
 
SAS Output
Trait 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of inseminations 3,193 3,706 3,624 3,788 3,479 3,233 3,222 3,053 2,480 2,288 1,833
Days from calving to first breeding 3,306 3,852 3,784 3,930 3,585 3,351 3,344 3,172 2,583 2,378 1,916
Days from calving to last breeding 2,364 2,662 2,667 2,767 2,623 2,476 2,370 2,282 1,793 1,606 1,313
Days from first to last breeding 3,193 3,706 3,624 3,788 3,479 3,233 3,222 3,053 2,480 2,288 1,833
Conception rate for first breedings 2,914 3,382 3,360 3,482 3,205 2,998 2,917 2,796 2,274 2,100 1,648
Conception rate for all breedings 6,110 7,541 7,328 7,646 6,963 6,212 6,144 5,732 4,781 4,587 3,445
Calving interval 1,557 1,861 1,944 1,911 1,725 1,702 1,586 1,349 1,120 984  




B) BROWN SWISS
 
SAS Output
Trait 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of inseminations 9,617 10,162 10,325 10,110 9,767 9,765 10,278 9,494 8,997 8,081 7,118
Days from calving to first breeding 10,020 10,514 10,715 10,503 10,107 10,086 10,660 9,873 9,335 8,373 7,340
Days from calving to last breeding 6,278 6,771 6,822 6,689 6,578 6,467 6,737 6,269 5,963 5,150 4,392
Days from first to last breeding 9,617 10,162 10,325 10,110 9,767 9,765 10,278 9,494 8,997 8,081 7,118
Conception rate for first breedings 8,980 9,481 9,690 9,480 9,179 9,024 9,567 8,858 8,361 7,479 6,452
Conception rate for all breedings 23,948 24,736 25,255 24,677 23,765 23,893 24,766 23,302 21,595 19,987 16,969
Calving interval 5,033 5,362 5,198 5,137 5,011 5,147 4,974 4,593 4,262 3,836  




C) GUERNSEY
 
SAS Output
Trait 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of inseminations 3,213 3,597 3,392 3,234 2,977 2,947 3,043 2,897 2,702 2,291 2,201
Days from calving to first breeding 3,343 3,752 3,536 3,354 3,075 3,056 3,137 3,002 2,812 2,381 2,282
Days from calving to last breeding 2,068 2,361 2,215 2,156 2,019 1,965 2,027 1,836 1,630 1,407 1,373
Days from first to last breeding 3,213 3,597 3,392 3,234 2,977 2,947 3,043 2,897 2,702 2,291 2,201
Conception rate for first breedings 2,953 3,281 3,080 2,965 2,697 2,671 2,734 2,617 2,353 1,924 1,792
Conception rate for all breedings 8,837 9,245 8,558 8,005 7,616 7,412 7,571 7,023 6,440 5,327 5,153
Calving interval 1,617 1,638 1,536 1,439 1,436 1,466 1,479 1,375 1,077 995  




D) HOLSTEIN
 
SAS Output
Trait 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of inseminations 1,443,049 1,676,146 1,735,529 1,814,376 1,847,962 1,933,840 1,999,183 2,003,236 1,964,113 1,809,716 1,450,606
Days from calving to first breeding 1,487,654 1,726,689 1,786,534 1,870,437 1,902,771 1,987,722 2,057,706 2,060,921 2,023,187 1,864,308 1,493,168
Days from calving to last breeding 1,100,606 1,281,775 1,323,257 1,388,432 1,417,722 1,488,450 1,542,213 1,554,659 1,508,869 1,338,690 1,049,653
Days from first to last breeding 1,443,049 1,676,146 1,735,529 1,814,376 1,847,962 1,933,840 1,999,183 2,003,236 1,964,113 1,809,716 1,450,606
Conception rate for first breedings 1,392,558 1,618,428 1,689,899 1,765,929 1,805,588 1,881,828 1,942,996 1,940,896 1,880,769 1,708,937 1,342,280
Conception rate for all breedings 3,578,167 4,160,519 4,364,572 4,499,484 4,564,830 4,681,638 4,835,965 4,737,937 4,492,086 3,906,770 2,984,989
Calving interval 794,588 893,153 928,612 966,125 996,130 1,038,859 1,078,261 1,068,181 968,036 791,726  




E) JERSEY
 
SAS Output
Trait 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of inseminations 104,094 128,111 147,188 156,445 166,991 177,973 174,997 171,555 172,032 142,699 96,127
Days from calving to first breeding 107,146 132,087 151,844 162,273 172,131 183,373 180,810 177,044 177,732 147,504 99,595
Days from calving to last breeding 85,467 106,733 121,782 128,579 136,966 144,309 138,099 135,091 132,475 105,956 68,733
Days from first to last breeding 104,094 128,111 147,188 156,445 166,991 177,973 174,997 171,555 172,032 142,699 96,127
Conception rate for first breedings 98,796 119,875 137,742 144,564 152,359 159,575 145,816 136,600 126,344 105,330 72,744
Conception rate for all breedings 235,015 281,807 322,605 336,233 361,649 390,387 378,516 369,502 376,032 285,659 186,455
Calving interval 58,160 75,621 80,723 86,617 91,729 92,954 85,649 81,144 67,267 45,356  




F) MILKING SHORTHORN
 
SAS Output
Trait 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of inseminations 696 926 1,006 1,241 1,106 1,119 1,066 1,046 854 665 506
Days from calving to first breeding 720 954 1,056 1,288 1,167 1,195 1,107 1,081 893 690 521
Days from calving to last breeding 475 647 718 877 769 786 724 704 555 456 326
Days from first to last breeding 696 926 1,006 1,241 1,106 1,119 1,066 1,046 854 665 506
Conception rate for first breedings 618 802 860 1,093 982 1,005 925 956 746 579 406
Conception rate for all breedings 1,325 1,660 1,837 2,106 2,039 1,964 1,948 1,890 1,508 1,189 815
Calving interval 305 382 495 492 460 469 478 374 271 219  




G) RED & WHITE
 
SAS Output
Trait 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Number of inseminations 1,166 1,203 1,195 1,134 1,202 1,099 1,146 990 908 826 525
Days from calving to first breeding 1,207 1,254 1,250 1,177 1,238 1,129 1,186 1,014 931 846 544
Days from calving to last breeding 865 911 820 828 857 803 829 727 650 607 352
Days from first to last breeding 1,166 1,203 1,195 1,134 1,202 1,099 1,146 990 908 826 525
Conception rate for first breedings 1,080 1,144 1,128 1,045 1,134 1,039 1,070 924 847 770 476
Conception rate for all breedings 2,527 2,734 2,609 2,375 2,537 2,553 2,493 2,207 2,031 1,748 1,120
Calving interval 565 579 578 575 563 586 568 480 405 276  


Contact: Duane Norman, 301-525-2006, duane.norman@uscdcb.com

We wish to acknowledge the contribution of the dairy producers who supplied data for this report through their participation in the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program and the dairy records processing centers (DRPC) that processed and relayed the information on to the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB).