Dairy Cow Fertility Trends Improve

After 20 years of declining dairy cow fertility in the Australian herd, the genetic trend has turned around and improved every year since 2011.

It is now about 5 per cent higher than cows born in 2011, and similar to cows born in 1996.

This finding and others are reported in the latest Herd Improvement Report, published recently by the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme (ADHIS) and the National Herd Improvement Association of Australia (NHIA).

Michelle Axford from ADHIS said this was an example of the gains that can be made through increased emphasis of fertility in Australian selection indices, particularly in the Balanced Performance Index (BPI) and Health Weighted Index (HWI).

“We can expect further gains as the focus on fertility in indices has increased further in the past couple of years,” she said – click here to read more.

In market news, Arla Foods has cut its amba milk price again, by one euro cent per kilo starting from 1 April.

Arla said the continued growth in milk production across Europe continues to have an impact on the imbalance between conventional milk supply and demand. This is continuing to put pressure on commodity and cheese markets which is having a knock-on effect across other markets.

Arla Foods amba Farmer Board Director, Jonathan Ovens, commented: “The milk price is definitely not at a level that anyone wants it to be, but the business is continuing to work hard to mitigate the negative effects of the hard-pressed global dairy market.

“We believe Arla has the right strategy to get through this, although the current situation is extreme for both Arla and everyone else in the global dairy market.” - Read more.