Currently, too many cows slip through the cracks of many herd programs, and they are not brought to attention until well beyond 100 days in milk. Herd programs should focus on cows 50 to 60 days in milk to increase the likelihood these cows will be inseminated prior to 80 days in milk. Once inseminated, pregnancy diagnosis should be as early as comfortable for the palpator, so if the cow is open more timely rebreeding may be achieved. Accurate record analysis enables you to assess the efficacy of treatments used for metritis, cystic ovaries, and repeat breeders. Conception rate and days open may be calculated for each group of cows to evaluate if treatment is benefiting reproductive performance in these animals.
Records allow monitoring of breeding performance by season and by groups of cows in the herd.
Records should monitor herd performance and individual cow performance. They need to be easy to use and the information retrievable so management decisions may be based on the information contained in them. Organized records allow quick calculation of conception rate and heat detection efficiency. Lists of cows to be bred and checked for pregnancy for each herd visit should be easy to generate. It is important to record information at each veterinary exam on palpation findings, intervention, body score, and anticipated action.