Effect of factors associated with insemination on calving rate in dairy cows

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Cattle Breeding Centre, Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire.

The results of 7569 inseminations performed on 6007 cows in 94 dairy herds were used to investigate the relative importance of time of insemination, bull and inseminator on calving rates in dairy cows. Although the time of insemination in relation to the first observation of oestrus was shown to have some effect, the effect was minimal during the first 24 hours. The maximum difference in expected calving rates between cows served with semen from groups of bulls with a history of either low or high fertility was 20 per cent, and the maximum difference in expected calving rate between cows inseminated by groups of inseminators who had consistently achieved either low or high fertility was 13 per cent.