McDougall S, Heuer C, Morton J, Brownlie T
1Cognosco,Anexa Animal Health,PO Box 21,Morrinsville 3300,New Zealand.
2Epicentre,Institute of Veterinary Animal and Biomedical Sciences,Massey University,Palmerston North 4474,New Zealand.
Animal. 2014 May;8 Suppl 1:199-210. doi: 10.1017/S1751731114000457. Epub 2014 Mar 28.
There has been a long history of herd health and production management programmes in many dairy industries around the world, but evidence for the efficacy of such programmes is limited. In response to a perceived decline in fertility of dairy cows, a herd reproductive management programme (InCalf) was introduced in New Zealand in 2007. This programme uses a management cycle approach that includes an assessment of the current herd status, identification of areas for improvement, development of a plan, implementation of this plan and finally a review process. The programme uses facilitators who work with farmers either in a one-to-one manner or in a formalised group setting that involves a series of meetings over a 12-month period (the farmer action group). The hypothesis that involvement in a reproductive management programme would improve herd reproductive performance was tested using a herd-level controlled randomised study (the National Herd Fertility Study) involving herds in four geographic regions of New Zealand over 2 years. Within each region, herds were ranked on the basis of the 6-week in-calf rate (i.e. the proportion of the herd pregnant in the first 6 weeks of the seasonal breeding programme) in the year preceding commencement of the study and then randomly assigned to be involved in a farmer action group or left as untreated controls. The key outcome variable of the study was the 6-week in-calf rate. Pregnancy diagnosis was undertaken at 12 weeks after the start of the seasonal breeding programme, which allowed determination of conception dates and hence calculation of the 6-week in-calf rate. Additional measurements including heifer live weight and body condition score (pre-calving and pre-mating) were undertaken to test whether treatment resulted in measurable changes in some of the key determinants of herd reproductive performance. Involvement in the farmer action group of InCalf resulted in a 2 percentage point increase in the 6-week in-calf rate (P=0.05). The following additional observations were made in herds involved in the farmer action group relative to control herds: heifers had live weight closer to target; the pre-mating body condition score of cows was higher; and oestrous detection rates were higher. It was concluded that involvement in this herd reproductive management programme improved reproductive outcomes in this New Zealand study. However, to achieve substantial improvements in herd reproductive performance at the regional or national level a greater response to the programme and a high uptake of such programmes is required, as well as use of other industry-level tools such as genetic management programmes.
在世界各地的许多乳制品行业中，畜群健康与生产管理计划有着悠久的历史，但此类计划有效性的证据有限。针对奶牛繁殖力明显下降的情况，2007年新西兰引入了一项畜群繁殖管理计划（InCalf）。该计划采用管理循环方法，包括评估当前畜群状况、确定改进领域、制定计划、实施该计划以及最后进行审查过程。该计划使用协调员，他们以一对一的方式与农民合作，或在正式的小组环境中合作，这涉及在12个月内举行一系列会议（农民行动小组）。使用一项涉及新西兰四个地理区域的畜群、为期2年的畜群水平对照随机研究（全国畜群繁殖力研究），对参与繁殖管理计划会提高畜群繁殖性能这一假设进行了检验。在每个区域内，根据研究开始前一年的6周内怀孕率（即季节性繁殖计划前6周内怀孕的畜群比例）对畜群进行排名，然后随机分配参与农民行动小组或作为未处理的对照。该研究的关键结果变量是6周内怀孕率。在季节性繁殖计划开始12周后进行妊娠诊断，这使得能够确定受孕日期，从而计算6周内怀孕率。还进行了其他测量，包括小母牛活重和体况评分（产犊前和配种前），以测试治疗是否导致畜群繁殖性能的一些关键决定因素发生可测量的变化。参与InCalf农民行动小组使6周内怀孕率提高了2个百分点（P = 0.05）。相对于对照畜群，在参与农民行动小组的畜群中还观察到以下情况：小母牛的活重更接近目标；母牛配种前的体况评分更高；发情检测率更高。得出的结论是，在这项新西兰研究中，参与该畜群繁殖管理计划改善了繁殖结果。然而，要在区域或国家层面实现畜群繁殖性能的大幅提高，需要对该计划有更大的响应和更高的采用率，以及使用其他行业层面的工具，如基因管理计划。
