Improving Heifer Productivity with Dr Enoch Bergman

Making BETTER Bovine Babies

Imagine using controlled mating through Fixed Time Artificial Insemination (FTAI) to improve your bottom line by $90/pregnancy. In this Podcast, one of Australia's most engaging repro veterinarians, Dr Enoch Bergman tells Vetoquinol's Rebecca Arnott how this result was achieved via a Meat & Livestock Australia funded Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) project run in conjunction with Swans Veterinary Services and the WA producer grower group ASHEEP. Run over three mating seasons, between 2017 and 2019, the testing of FTAI in the heifer joining programs of 10 local beef producers measured conception rates, dystocia rates, calf and heifer mortality rates, rebreeding weights, and the weaning weights of the calves from the heifers. Those enrolled in the FTAI integrated group were superior to those of their naturally mated siblings on average for each parameter and in most individual instances. Enoch highlights results from an economic analysis of the averages, which demonstrated a benefit of just under $90 per pregnancy without factoring in either genetic improvement or the ongoing benefits of the improved calving distribution observed within the heifers enrolled in the FTAI program. This Podcast was recorded at the end of Beef Australia; hence the croaky voices!