How can we lift the national average six-week in-calf rate from its current position of 67%? Two exciting new traits have emerged – age at puberty and AGD (distance from anus to genitals) – that could serve as early-in-life predictors of fertility performance. DairyNZ’s been investigating these traits, and others, by following 5000 cows in 54 herds. To find out what we’ve learned and what those findings mean for farmers, we're joined by DairyNZ senior scientist Chris Burke and DairyNZ PhD student Melissa Stephen, and Taranaki farmer Tracey Berquist.

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