Synchronizing helps to improve reproductive efficiency in cattle

Improving reproductive efficiency in a beef herd can be as easy as one trip through the chute. Dr. Joe Gillespie, professional services veterinarian with Boehringer-Ingelheim, talked about how beef producers can better forecast calving season and related management with basic estrus synchronization.

"The largest benefit of synchronization is getting calves born earlier in the season, and what that does to your cow herd is it does a couple of things," Gillespie said. "First, it actually increases weaning weights because calves are all weaned at the same time in the fall. So, for a younger calf, that is the number one factor that determines weaning weight. So, if the calf is older and has more time to grow, he's going to weigh more. Second, it really narrows the calving season, which allows for producers to be a little more focused on their management. If you have a long six-month calving season, it's hard to focus on doing a really good job and fine-tuning what you’re doing with that group of cows. But if you have a 45- or 60-day calving window, you could focus more closely on that, and synchronizing will allow that to happen more effectively."

Gillespie said introducing synchronization within a herd can be surprisingly simple.

"It can be as simple as one trip through the chute giving a product that's called prostaglandin," Gillespie said. "And those prostaglandins given to 100 percent of the cows will actually cause them to typically have an estrus cycle within three-to-five-days after that synchronization What you essentially do instead of having a 21-day window where 100 percent of the animals make cycle, you may get that down to all the way around 10-14 days, and that allows for the opportunity to get more of those cows pregnant in the front end or front-loading that calving season. And if you get them closer together, you can manage them better."

Gillespie added that there are other important factors for reproductive efficiency as well.

"It's about proper nutrition, vaccinating animals, making sure that they’re protected against any kind of venereal disease or diseases that could cause risk of fertility in those animals before they get exposed to the bull," Gillespie said. "Also, you can't forget about parasites and the impact of a parasite on the immune system which can affect fertility. And then finally, if you’re doing natural service, whether you’re doing it with a synchronization program or without, breeding soundness exam on your goals is really important because we can bring in fertility issues with the bull."

Of course, with so many decisions to be made, Gillespie said it's important to work closely with a veterinarian and put a dedicated plan in place.

"We need to sit down with our veterinarian and develop a plan of how we’re going to approach it," Gillespie said. "What's our nutritional plan? What's our vaccination? What's our goal with that vaccination? Do we need parasite control? Have we implemented a parasite-control program? Finally, we looked at our bulls that we’re going to introduce to this herd. Together, we create a protocol that we can be effective with."

For more information, visit boehringer-ingelheim.com.