British Cattle Veterinary Association

In a climate of chronically low fertility in the national dairy herd the cattle practitioner is exceptionally well placed to offer comprehensive advice and assistance to dairy clients. Although it is accepted that a major cause of low fertility is an interaction between genetics and management, recent changes in breeding strategy to improve fertility indices will take a long time to have significant impact. Currently available tools could be more effectively integrated into fertility management to improve the situation in the short term. These include the use of milk progesterone testing to support clinical findings and the strategic use of available hormone treatments to improve pregnancy rates.