Effects of a Herd Health Program on Reproductive Performance of Dairy Cows

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Abstract
Dairy cows (144) of 5 breeds [Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Holstein, Guernsey and Jersey] with a total of 184 parturitions were assigned randomly by breed and parity to a reproductive herd health program and control group for 2 yr. Animals of herd health program averaged 1.85, 1.73, 73.1 and 99.24 for number of inseminations, inseminations per conception, days to 1st insemination, and days open compared to 2.59, 2.37, 86.82 and 140.07 for control animals. Controls averaged 255 kg of solids-corrected milk more per lactation on a standardized basis than cows in the herd health program. For experimental day, animals of herd health program produced 20.59 and 20.63 kg of mature equivalent and solids-corrected milk compared to 20.60 and 20.37 kg for controls.