BOS Trading

Good fertility results with SiryX on cows

Using Siryx, CRV’s sexed semen, on cows is proving effective in terms of fertility. As rule of thumb, it holds that there are approximately two SiryX straws necessary for a pregnancy in cows and one and a half straws for a pregnancy in maiden heifers. This is terrific news for a product with so enormous advantages within the operational management of a dairy farm.

The fertilisation results for SiryX used on cows are looking good. CRV now has sufficient records to be able to reliably gauge expected pregnancy results in cows. CRV used the insemination records of its own AI service, resulting in a very high reliability.

The non-return rate at 56 days in cows, which is based on more than 2,000 insemination records, is 52%, First-lactation cows achieve a somewhat higher non-return rate than multiparous cows. These results exceed the expectations and results show that about two straws of SiryX are needed per pregnancy in cows.
The non-return rate at 56 days in maiden heifers remains at 61%, based on thousands of insemination records. This results show that around 1.5 straws of SiryX are required per pregnancy. Until now, most of the SiryX straws were used on maiden heifers and just a small proportion on cows. But with these good cow fertilisation results, CRV is expecting that the percentage of SiryX straws used on cows to increase. Dairy farmers are eager to get heifer calves out of their best cows in the herd.

Financial advantages

The big benefit of using SiryX is that it makes the herd to a large extent controllable. With a relatively low investment, producers can benefit from clear (financial) gains:

- The assurance of producing sufficient heifers gives the opportunity of using beef bulls on a large part of the herd. Producers can profit from this by boosting their income from the sale of cross-bred calves.
- The gestation length of heifer calves is on average shorter than that of bull calves, which results in more milking days for the mother and, therefore, more milk income per lactation.
- The number of difficult calvings reduces due to the easier birth of heifer calves compared to bull calves. As a result, the heifers will have a better start to their lactation (and produce more milk, so more milk income), with lower veterinary costs.

Using SiryX on the highest genetic merit heifers and cows in the herd to breed the next generation of milking cows will result in faster genetic progress. This progress results in a more productive and healthier herd and improved financial results.