March 15, 2013
In the 1980s, the conception rate in an average herd of dairy cows was around 50 percent; today that number has dropped to 35 percent. A team of scientists led by Washington State University’s Tom Spencer is turning to advanced genomics technology to address what has become a challenging issue facing the dairy industry.
"Besides feed cost, infertility is one of the most costly issues for the dairy industry,” said Spencer, who holds the Baxter Endowed Chair in Beef Cattle Research in the Department of Animal Sciences at WSU. "In general, there has been a 1 percent per year decline in fertility.”
An infertile animal has to be culled from the herd, he explained, leaving the producer with the expense of supporting the animal until infertility is confirmed, as well as the cost of replacing the animal.
Barrier to competitiveness
"Fertility is a complex polygenic trait, so it is harder to select for than other traits,” Spencer said. "If we can identify and isolate the multiple genes responsible for fertility, we may be able to tell earlier what cows are going to be fertile – maybe as early as at birth.”