Bio-economic modeling to support insemination decisions in dairy cows

Abstract

To achieve the optimal economic profit, the effort to increase milk production in a dairy cow has been generated. As a consequence of an increased milk production, it appears that the conception rate has been reported to decline during the last decade worldwide. For the optimal economics and to avoid effort for the lower conception rate in early lactation, the extension of calving interval has been suggested to be later than 12 to 13 months. However, the complexity of interactions and dynamics of factors influencing reproductive performance do influence seriously the determination of an economically optimal time to start and to stop insemination. The main objective of this thesis was to develop bio-economic models which support decision on inseminating dairy cows. The epidemiological data generated in, empirical, epidemiological studies were integrated in our simulation models. As a consequence, the first simulation model could be used to support decisions for the optimal time to start insmeination with taking more specific cow factors into account. Moreover, using the second simulation model, it was proven that the insemination number has an effect on the optimal time to stop inseminating.