Benefits of Early Treatment

The In Calf project, (originally known as the National Dairy Herd Fertility project) has confirmed and reinforced the fact that later calving cows have substantially reduced fertility compared to their earlier calving herd mates. It is these later calving cows that make up this bulk of the group of NVO's. If we do nothing, many of these cows end up empty, or as late cows in the following year.

 

    There is good evidence that early treatment of NVO cows results in:

  • Increased numbers in calf to AI.

  • Less empty cows.

  • Fewer cows to induce in the following year.

If heats are recorded before MSD, NVO cows can be treated prior to MSD. This will mean that approximately twice as many cows will be examined, however, this gives the true non-cyclers a chance to be mated twice in the first 30 days of mating. The In Calf project results show that these early treated NVO's have fertility that is almost equal to their non treated naturally cycling herd mates.

The earlier that NVO's are identified, examined and treated, the better.