News Items (latest first)
A new fertility EBV
At ALSS we think that the number of days that it takes for a cow and heifer to get pregnant is a very good indicator of the “fertility” of that female. This information is relatively easy to collect, involves no additional cost over a normal pregnancy test and is the basis for the calculation of better EBVs than those calculated using existing traits.
New fertility EBVs based on this trait can be calculated by providing the following information to BREEDPLAN;
- All the dates on which opportunities to get pregnant, be they natural or controlled, were provided to the cow and heifer.
- The age of the foetus in days on the day of scanning.
Steps are afoot to have BREEDPLAN accept the age of the foetus on the day of scanning as a trait for the calculation of a fertility EBV.
The ALSS group has been providing this information to our clients for close to 20 years and is capable of doing so with a high degree of accuracy. See "ID fertile heifers & fertily EBVs" in the right side column.
If you want start to collecting this information in order to produce this EBV for your cows/heifers, contact Doug at:
mobile phone: 0428 667 567
email: fowler.doug@bigpond.com
Letter to The Land - Improve lamb survival
An ALSSg Letter to the Editor of "The Land", published on 22nd May 2014 presents a simple management practice to improve lamb survival. Click the link below to display the letter.
Link: Letter to "The Land"