Factors influencing fertility in dairy cows

Abstract

In the last twenty years causes and prevention of reproductive failure in dairy cattle on Slovenian farms were the object of widely extended research work. On most dairy farms fertility is a management rather than a physiological problem. Efficient diagnostic and prevention methods in fertility management were developed. In the review article characteristic measures of reproductive efficiency are specified. Possible and typical causes of reproductive failures are described (genetic variation in reproduction, influence of infectious diseases and unspecific genital infections, artificial insemination procedures, environmental factors affecting reproduction, calving season, age of cows, management problems associated with reproduction, milk yield and nutritional factors). Methods for detection of reproductive failure reasons based on our own investigations are presented and some typical correlations among specific fertility disturbance symptoms and failures in nutrition and in management are illustrated.