The economic optimization of lactation and fertility in dairy cows

Tohumcu V., Tulan Tohumcu D.

CAB REVIEWS: PERSPECTIVES IN AGRICULTURE, VETERINARY SCIENCE, NUTRITION AND NATURAL RESOURCES, cilt.1, sa.19, ss.1-7, 2024 (Scopus)

Özet

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

Keywords: dairy cows, fertility, lactation, optimization