British Cattle Veterinary Association

Within the UK, but also worldwide, there is confusion over how to define and interpret reproductive performance in dairy cows. For vets that want to benchmark and compare the performance of different herds, this confusion requires clarification because it is clinically significant. The aim of this article is to describe a selection of parameters commonly used to measure reproductive performance in UK dairy cattle and discuss potential pitfalls of how and when they are used. Parameters dealing with oestrus detection, pregnancy detection and parameters that summarise reproductive performance are discussed.