Abstract
The decline in dairy herd fertility internationally has highlighted the limited impact of traditional veterinary approaches to bovine fertility management. Three questionnaire surveys were conducted at buiatrics conferences attended by veterinary practitioners on veterinary dairy herd fertility services (HFS) in countries with a seasonal (Ireland, 47 respondents) and non-seasonal breeding model (The Netherlands, 44 respondents and Portugal, 31 respondents). Of the 122 respondents, 73 (60%) provided a HFS and 49 (40%) did not. The majority (76%) of all practitioners who responded stated that bovine fertility had declined in their practice clients' herds with inadequate cow management, inadequate nutrition and increased milk yield as the most important putative causes. The type of clients who adopted a herd fertility service were deemed more educated than average (70% of respondents), and/or had fertility problems (58%) and/or large herds (53%). The main components of this service were routine postpartum examinations (95% of respondents), fertility records analysis (75%) and ultrasound pregnancy examinations (69%). The number of planned visits per annum varied between an average of four in Ireland, where breeding is seasonal, and 23 in Portugal, where breeding is year-round. The benefits to both the practitioner and their clients from running a HFS were cited as better fertility, financial rewards and job satisfaction. For practitioners who did not run a HFS the main reasons given were no client demand (55%) and lack of fertility records (33%). Better economic evidence to convince clients of the cost-benefit of such a service was seen as a major constraint to adoption of this service by 67% of practitioners.
Highlights
The decline in dairy herd fertility internationally has highlighted the limited impact of traditional veterinary approaches to bovine fertility management
The majority (76%) of respondents in each country stated that dairy herd fertility had declined in their practice. This decline in herd fertility was not attributed to a single factor, rather it was attributed to numerous factors of which inadequate management of dairy cows (21% of respondents), increased milk yield (19%) and inadequate nutrition of dairy cows (19%) were the most common contributory factors listed
The main fertility problems encountered in dairy herds were similar in each country but their ranking differed; puerperal problems were ranked as the main reproductive problem in Irish dairy herds but as the least important problem in Portuguese dairy herds
Summary
The decline in dairy herd fertility internationally has highlighted the limited impact of traditional veterinary approaches to bovine fertility management. The number of planned visits per annum varied between an average of four in Ireland, where breeding is seasonal, and 23 in Portugal, where breeding is year-round The benefits to both the practitioner and their clients from running a HFS were cited as better fertility, financial rewards and job satisfaction. A HFS may be defined as a proactive, routine service provided to manage all aspects of bovine fertility, usually by a veterinary practitioner, with emphasis on the herd as the unit of interest, rather than the fertility of the individual animal.
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