Fact Sheet Written by:
Les Anderson
And Provided by
University of Kentucky http://www.ca.uky.edu
Reproductive effi ciency is the single most important factor aff ecting gross returns in a cow-calf operation. Even though reproductive effi ciency determines gross income, few producers actually have a plan to regulate or control reproduction in their cow herd. Ideally, one should strive to wean a calf from every cow exposed to breeding and have every cow calve within 20 to 30 days from the start of the calving season. More realistically, an excellent overall goal would be to wean a calf from greater than 90% of cows exposed to breeding and have 80% of the calves born in the fi rst month of the calving season. Th is goal can be easily achieved through application of sound reproductive management practices. Th ese practices include: • proper nutrition of the brood cow
• estrus synchronization for either natural service or artifi cial insemination (AI)
• proper development of heifers and young cows
• disease prevention
• minimizing calf death loss
• using fertile bulls
• culling infertile cows.
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