Precision Diagnostics LLC
specializing in reproductive management
More Frequent Pregnancy Checks = Greater Reproductive Efficiency
How often do you submit blood samples for BioPRYN “pregnancy diagnosis”, or otherwise determine
the pregnancy status of your inseminated cows? Another way to ask this question is, how soon after
breeding do you find the “open” cows? In the end, does it really matter whether you depend on
monthly “herd checks” or find the open cows weekly? A follow-up question would then be, how soon
do you take action on cows that are diagnosed open?
Well, enough questions. Let’s consider how your answers to the above questions will affect your
profitability. In the chart below is actual PCDART data from a 180 cow herd that has been using the
BioPRYN test since April of 2006.
Test date
% Heats observed
Conception rate
Pregnancy rate
3/21/07
31
31
15
3/17/08
41
35
19
3/16/09
59
40
25
3/15/10
63
39
29
3/14/11
68
41
29
3/16/12
64
35
29
3/18/13
69
43
34
First of all, notice the huge improvement in pregnancy rate. Over this six year period I saw this producer
make an increasing commitment to weekly pregnancy checks. Using the BioPRYN test, with 99.9%
accuracy at 28 days post breeding, all open cows are detected by 35 days after AI. The rest of the story
is that all open cows are immediately re-synched and rebred. The “% heats observed” column
represents the % of eligible cows that actually were bred during each 21 day pregnancy rate period.
As you can see, as pregnancy checks became more frequent, the % of eligible cows actually being
serviced improved nicely, which directly affects the pregnancy rate. It’s also interesting to note that,
even though open cows were returned to service more quickly, conception rate did not suffer but
actually improved. I won’t attempt to put a dollar value on this scenario, but the impact on profitability
is significant. In addition, this producer is now able to sell animals for dairy purposes, further impacting
his bottom line. Whether you milk 40, 400 or 4000 cows, can you afford to wait for a monthly herd
check? Not in today’s economy.