Repro Management in Robotic Facilities

Overview

Robotic dairy systems allow producers to more efficiently identify, segregate and inseminate cows than in a traditional setting, enhancing the overall performance of their reproductive programs.

Reproduction management plays a critical role in any dairy. The ability to monitor, detect and act quickly when heat is detected significantly impacts herd performance. Moreover, “repro” management has the potential to be one of the largest spends for a dairy when considering cost of extended days open, extended dry periods, labor, etc. With the advent of automated dairy systems, the way repro management is handled can be optimized to increase efficiency and create a more streamlined system for producers.

Repro management differences in robotic facilities

Both conventional and robotic dairies typically employ activity monitoring devices to record the baseline activity of a cow and monitor incremental activity increases which indicate the onset of estrus. In this regard conventional and robotic dairies appear much the same. Lely robotic dairies, however, have access to additional data via the Lely Horizon farm management system, allowing them to provide heat attention; estimate the duration of estrus and provide other health attentions which could impact a successful insemination. This is available in the form of onboard biological sampling via the MQC-C2 somatic cell count sensor (optional equipment) for the Lely Astronaut or feed consumption data provided by the Lely Juno automatic feed pusher or Lely Vector automatic feeding system. Regardless of how or when the heat is detected, the subsequent handling of the cow (or “cow touches”) is where the largest differences appear.

In a Lely robotic dairy, a variety of sensors gather data points related to heat. Once a cow’s heat threshold has been reached and she has entered the Lely Astronaut, she can be routed, via an automated sort gate like the Lely Grazeway, to a separation area where the required cow touches can be performed. In this way, human interaction with the cows is confined to the separation pen where cows still have access to feed and water. As a result, the rest of the herd remains undisturbed. The ability to manage only the cows which have reached their individual heat threshold is logistically preferrable to routing larger groups of cows into a separation area or locking up a group of cows where the vast majority do not need to be restrained.

This method affords producers greater efficiency by significantly reducing time required to identify and treat cows as well as reducing the impact of human interference on a cow’s natural rhythms. Integrated sort gates also eliminate the need to spend time fetching cows, creating further labor and time efficiencies. Once in the separation area, lock up times are typically much shorter in a Lely robotic dairy as a producer is not concerned with managing a large group. Rather, they can focus on the cows which have been specifically separated for treatment.

Conception Rate (CR) and Pregnancy Rate (PR) in Lely robotic dairies

Important to quantifying the effects of robotics on heat detection, CR and PR, is a foundational understanding of the terms. A paper [1] published by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Extension program offers a clear description:

“Heat detection rate is the percentage of cows inseminated over a 21-day period divided by the number of cows eligible to be bred over those 21 days [2]. For example, if 10 cows are eligible to be bred but only four are detected in heat, the heat detection rate is 40 percent.

Conception rate is the percentage of cows pregnant divided by the number of cows inseminated during a 21-day period [2]. If two of the cows in the above example become pregnant, the conception rate is 50 percent.

Pregnancy rate is calculated by multiplying the heat detection rate by the conception rate [2]. For the above example, the calculation would be 40 percent multiplied by 50 percent, resulting in a pregnancy rate of 20 percent.”

Lely robotic dairies have the potential for higher performance across these categories due to their greater wealth of data and resulting action lists. Effectively, data from Lely Horizon helps create a more accurate picture of estrus in individual cows.

Ovsynch protocol in a robotic facility

Ovsynch is a method for artificially stimulating reproductive activity in dairy cows via hormone injection which trigger the onset of estrus. It is commonly used to address cows that are experiencing reproductive inactivity for various reasons including production stress, nutritional imbalance or simple lack of observation which can be eliminated by robotic data gathering.  

In a Lely robotic dairy, cows ready for ovsynch can be diverted via Lely Grazeway at any time. With the ability to separate only the cows that are immediately ready for ovsynch, the herd remains undisturbed and cow touches are directed to only those cows which need attention. Overall, ovsynch in Lely robotic dairies has the potential to be more accurate, efficient, and most importantly it allows the remainder of the herd to continue their natural rhythm.

Conclusions

Many aspects of heat detection are similar in conventional and robotic facilities. However, the ability of Lely robotic dairies to increase the accuracy and efficiency of reproduction programs, reduce cow touches and herd disturbances, and potentially improve CR and PR rates should not be overlooked.

[1] - Liz Eckelkamp, Victoria Couture, Lew Strickland, Peter Krawczel, “Back to the Breeding Basics” retrieved 9/12/2023 from https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/W872.pdf