Embryo transfer has become increasingly popular on US dairy farms to rapidly advance the genetic profile of the herd. This month’s feature article looks at the associations between fertility traits on the success of embryo transfer.

Fertility traits such as daughter pregnancy rate (DPR), cow conception rate (CCR) and heifer conception rate (HCR) are consistently classified with low heritability. However, this retrospective study takes a deep dive into the data stored at the Council of Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) to use the statistical power of dairy farmers data. There, the researchers were able to find a clear impact of these traits on the success of an ET program and long term impact on herd fertility.

Because ultimately … we’re just interested in more calves on the ground, so listen in to better understand how data is improving ET fertility setbacks.

Topics of discussion

1:39 Introduction of Dr. Sophia Ortega 2:18 Fertility traits discussion 3:47 How to improve these traits with low heritability 6:25 In vivo (IVD) and in vitro procedures (IVP) definition 8:11 Grade 1 embryo improvements when selecting females using fertility traits 9:27 Embryo loss discussion 10:30 Difference preg rate between cow vs. heifer 12:03 Global impact of ET improvements using fertility traits 13:45 How ET trends in the dairy industry in the past 5 years 16:02 Limitation of in-vitro procedures and expected preg rate 16:57 Blastocyst rate improvement 19:19 Impact of fertility of ET recipients 21:08 Where to find the fertility traits when selecting 27:20 What do you want ‘boots on the ground’ dairymen to know about your project

Featured Articles:

Association of fertility traits with embryo development and pregnancy establishment

Resources: Dairy Records Management Systems Council of Dairy Cattle Breeding

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