Activity monitoring systems have gained wide acceptance as tools to monitor cows 24/7 and find cows in heat that might not be found by other means. In some cases, this has allowed reduced use of synchronization protocols for cows that cycle normally without intervention. In other cases, first service synchronization protocols are still used, but open cows are reinseminated more quickly because more are found in heat with activity monitors. Stefan Borchardt’s presentation suggested two ways to get more value from activity monitoring. First, Borchardt’s research showed that natural heats from cows with high levels of activity are more fertile than natural heats with low activity. Cows with high activity can be inseminated. Cows with lower levels of activity might be more fertile if we wait another cycle or intervene with synchronization protocols. Second, Borchardt showed that cows that display heat before the voluntary waiting period are more fertile than those that do not. Again, performance might be improved by using different strategies for different groups of cows, based on information from the activity monitoring system.
Association of Activity and Fertility of Dairy Cows: Things We Need to Know to Improve Herd Fertility Stefan Borchardt, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, November 14-16, 2023
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