Repro money: An extension program to improve dairy farm reproductive performance

Abstract

A farmer-directed, team-based Extension program (Repro Money) was developed and executed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Dairy Science in collaboration with University of Wisconsin-Extension. The goal of the Repro Money program was to help Wisconsin dairy farmers increase reproductive performance and profitability through identification of areas for improvement and implementation of action plans. For the 40 Wisconsin dairy farms that completed the Repro Money program, mean 21-day pregnancy rate increased by 2 percentage points, which was estimated to result in an economic net gain of $31 per cow per year. Extension professionals can apply similar team-based programs to tackle multifaceted, interrelated problems that may be only partially addressed by other, more traditional programming.