Those of you with wearable technology will likely have turned your attention from transition rumination to cycling rates (maybe obsessively staring at your screen to watch the number of cows cycling going up).

Meanwhile, those who are sticking with ‘tried and true’ manual methods of noting cycles will be due to get tail paint or scratchies on and start their pre-mating heat detection (slowly watching the bright colours on the herd change).

However, despite your best efforts to get all cows cycling early, some just won’t. Non-cycling cows continue to negatively affect the reproductive performance of dairy herds.

We know that early treatment of non-cycling cows results in better reproductive outcomes. There have been some fantastic developments to our existing repro intervention programmes in NZ over the last couple of years. While our old programmes achieved good conception rates, the addition of extra doses and volumes of prostaglandin (PG) in new non-cycler programmes has resulted in significantly improved conception rates.

Don’t worry though, the standard programmes are still available for those wanting to keep the cost of treatment to a minimum. But for those wanting to push for even higher conception rates and better return on investment, then there are plenty of routes to explore with these enhanced programmes.

We also have an exciting new option for fixed time AI in yearling heifers. Studies into this option have shown a staggering 16% higher first service conception rate and 13% higher 6-week in-calf rates when compared to a typical CIDR programme for heifers.

There are so many ways we can work together and intervene to improve your herd’s repro season. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach, the best results come from choosing the right programme for your animals, goals and budget with your KeyVet.

So, figure out who’s not cycling and make a plan for mating time. For those with automated heat detection technology it is easier than ever to identify and target groups for treatment. For those without technology, the paint still works!

Arrange a repro consult ahead of mating with your KeyVet and get a plan for your farm sorted. Let’s make this repro season a great one.