Reproductive Practices and Results in Dairies Using Owner or Professional Inseminators

Abstract

In study 1, information on breeding practices of owner-inseminators in 234 herds of Holstein cattle was obtained by mail survey. Improved timing of insemination during estrus and convenience were reasons dairy farmers gave for performing insemination themselves. Many also used natural service bulls or professional inseminators to breed some cows. Cows in less than half of the herds were observed specifically for estrus at scheduled intervals. Cows were frequently inseminated more than once per estrus; 65% of the inseminations were within 2h of milking. Mean services per conception for cows in 135 herds responding to a second questionnaire were 1.7 and mean calving interval was 12.8 mo. Study 2 involved only herds and associated records in Dairy Herd Improvement. Herds using only professional inseminators were randomly selected to match similar owner-serviced responding and nonresponding tested herds in Study 1. Reproductive efficiency varied greatly among herds with a slight decrease as the size of the herd increased. The 1.70 services per conception achieved by professional technicians was only slightly better than 1.74 services per conception for direct service personnel. Dairy farmers in large herds who did not respond to a special questionnaire handled more cows per worker, had more services per conception, and had a slightly longer calving interval.