A difficult calving really costs money!
Most dairy farmers in the world don’t know the real effects of difficult calvings. Asking them about their farm results, they mostly deny having problems on their farm, even when worldwide statistics are shown.
For sure every dairy farmer wants to give his cows a successful start of the lactation. A difficult calving always results in making a lot of costs, labor and stress.
Economically, ease of calving is one of the most important factors for future profit, especially for first calf heifers. A high incidence of difficult calvings can reduce herd profitability through increased direct and indirect costs.
With direct costs we talk about:
- Veterinary fees
- Cow or calf death
- Extra labor
The indirect costs are not that clear indicated but will include:
- Decreased reproduction
- Decreased milk yield
- Decreased calf health
In the USA arround 30% of new born calves from first lactation heifers and arround 20% new born calves from older cows needed at least some kind of assistance during calving. Calving needing assistance or surgery:
- Increase culling risk by 18%
- A loss of milk yield of 660 – 1540 Lbs. (300 – 700 kg)
- A loss of component yield of arround 24 kg Fat and 21 kg Protein
- Have on average a greater SCS which also means an extra loss of milk yield
- 2.5 less Productive Life months
- Approximately 28 more days open
- Arround 0.7 more services to conception
- Arround 7.8 more days to first service
In the below published table (study done in the UK) you will see the effect on subsequent reproductive performances of the dam in relation to a SCE of 1 (1 = easy calving / 4 = difficult calving):
| Calving Ease Category | ||||
| Trait | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Calving interval in days | 0 | 4.0 | 6.9 | 28.0 |
| Number of services | 0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.7 |
| Days to first service | 0 | 1.7 | 3.5 | 7.8 |
When breeding first calf heifers, SCE of the service sire should be emphasized to promote easy calvings. We recommend using sires with SCE 6% or lower, especially for the first calf heifers who are most often affected. AI Total's top-10 ranking on SCE is:
| Naab code | Name | SCE | GTPI | NM$ | PTA Milk | PTA % Fat | PTA % Protein | PTA Type | PL | DPR |
| 515HO00307 | Halloween | 4.9 | +2584 | 752 | +1074 | +0.14 | +0.04 | +1.65 | +4.8 | +2.7 |
| 307HO00014 | Rafter | 5.0 | +2743 | 891 | +1146 | +0.08 | +0.03 | +1.34 | +9.1 | +4.4 |
| 515HO00324 | Elvis | 5.3 | +2623 | 822 | +2085 | +0.03 | -0.02 | +1.15 | +5.3 | +2.5 |
| 515HO00308 | Sergio | 5.7 | +2666 | 813 | +1644 | -0.02 | +0.04 | +1.76 | +2.8 | +2.7 |
| 515HO00322 | Neal | 5.7 | +2742 | 876 | +1259 | +0.10 | +0.06 | +1.59 | +7.4 | +3.5 |
| 515HO00306 | It's me | 5.8 | +2721 | 887 | +1894 | +0.04 | +0.03 | +1.57 | +6.7 | +1.5 |
| 515HO00138 | Modious | 5.9 | +2383 | 581 | +1200 | -0.02 | -0.02 | +2.19 | +3.1 | -0.9 |
| 515HO00277 | Puma | 5.9 | +2397 | 587 | +717 | +0.08 | +0.04 | +1.75 | +4.5 | +0.7 |
| 515HO00333 | Mainstay | 5.9 | +2653 | 787 | +1705 | +0.00 | +0.04 | +1.53 | +6.1 | +2.8 |
| 515HO00319 | Mitch | 6.0 | +2650 | 838 | +1261 | +0.19 | +0.08 | +1.70 | +3.9 | -0.3 |
If you are interested to know how this can be implemented in your breeding program, please feel free to contact us. Contact here
Koepon Rafter Broeks Modious ALH Australia VG-87
High GS tested Black HF Progeny tested MGD of Rhala Re Blues Red
High GS tested Red HF