Calving Ease: Not just for Heifers

Article by Paul Meyer

Compelling evidence shows why Calving Ease sires stack the odds in your favor for health and longevity traits – so use them on your entire herd!

Most producers consider Calving Ease (CE) as a trait of importance for their heifers, opting for sires that are known to promote easy deliveries. That comes as no surprise since difficult calvings deliver a hefty price tag: unthrifty calves, lost production, extended days open, vet costs, drug costs and lost animals (calves and cows). The benefit CE sires provide to the dairy goes far beyond easy deliveries, however. In fact, the financial impact of these additional benefits is important enough to cause some dairy producers to select CE sires for all animals.

Calving Ease and Daughter Pregnancy Rate

Using the highest reliability sires as our test group - over a thousand bulls with 99% reliability - it’s clear that daughters of highly rated CE bulls, as a group, exhibit superior reproductive performance relative to daughters of the entire group of bulls and especially compared to daughters of bulls rated below average, for CE. Keep in mind that since most of these bulls are long past the marketing phase of their careers, indicated by their CFP and $NM averages, however, it is the difference on PL, DPR and Health that are important to note.

What’s it worth?

Research that USDA applies in calculating the NM$ values for sires indicates that each DPR point is worth $17 in extra profit per resulting daughter. Similarly, each unit of PL adds $26 in profit per daughter. Add these to the original estimated value of Calving Ease - $9 for heifers, $3 for cows – and the economic impact of using Calving Ease sires becomes very significant for reasons you might not have considered at all. Over 1000 bulls with 99% reliability proofs show that when Calving Ease is a clear selection goal, significant additional benefits are received on both DPR and PL. There’s a half point gain for both traits ($22 extra profit per daughter) that accompanies a concerted effort to use the best Calving Ease sires compared to not selecting for the trait. Using Calving Ease bulls instead of difficult calving bulls produces a much more dramatic difference, with accompanying DPR and PL differences that deliver nearly $50 dollars of extra profit per daughter. These results show in dramatic fashion why Calving Ease sires ought to be used across the entire herd. Calving Ease – it’s not just for heifers!

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Posted Jun 8th

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