The Economic Optimization of Lactation and Fertility in Dairy Cows

Abstract

Lactation and fertility are recognized as fundamental factors that directly influence the sustainability of dairy farming. For farms working with high-yielding dairy cows in particular, maintaining fertility parameters at economically optimal levels is crucial to ensuring the continued viability of such operations. This review underscores the necessity of implementing multifaceted strategies to attain optimal lactation and fertility outcomes, elucidating the requisite steps involved in the execution of these strategies. These include the careful execution of estrus monitoring plans, comprehensive staff training, systematic record-keeping, ensuring optimal fertility parameters, and the judicious interpretation of herd management mathematics. Accurate forecasting and investment necessitate consideration of current market dynamics. Understanding the complex interplay between lactation and fertility in dairy cows is a critical prerequisite for improving overall economic productivity through herd management. To this end, the review presented simulates how the optimization of these two parameters can be achieved and their target values, based on a 100-head herd. While the exemplary model is based on costs in Turkiye, readers can adapt this simulation to calculate according to their own country's standards. Furthermore, the simulation evinced that dairy farms relying solely on milk production incur losses, highlighting the need for diversification to ensure sustainability. In conclusion, the symbiotic relationship between lactation and fertility demands a mathematical approach, and the adoption of these integrated strategies is essential for the sustainability of dairy farms. In this context, profitability can be attained by heeding all cautions regarding the optimization of fertility and lactation, while closely monitoring current market costs. © CAB International 2024.