The role of the veterinarian in bovine fertility management on modern dairy farms

The decline in dairy herd fertility internationally has highlighted the limited impact of traditional veterinary approaches to herd fertility. The role of the veterinarian in fertility management on dairy farms has evolved from addressing individual clinical conditions to analyzing suboptimal herd metrics. However, this paradigm shift has only successfully occurred in some dairy industries and less so in others. Needs analyses indicate that the critical constraints to change are veterinary practice size, client motivation and data quality and availability. In addition, this review identified the inability of veterinarians to demonstrate and to market the cost-benefit of their fertility management services as important impediments to change. In many cases change is not being managed but is imposed by the growth of paraprofessionals. Some veterinarians still see their role as an animal clinician while others have evolved into leaders of the herd fertility management team. The core role of dairy veterinarians remains individual animal examinations but this must be supplemented with systematic herd fertility investigation and veterinarian-led herd fertility management. This new role encompasses leading the change from clinical calls only to a planned approach to herd fertility, demonstrating the cost-benefits of the program, scheduling fertility management consultations, assisting the farmer in setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-limited (SMART) goals, drawing up standard operating procedures (SOPs), training and auditing staff in fertility management practices, encouraging a team approach, implementing veterinary fertility management and monitoring performance. Veterinarians who fail to engage in this process of change risk being marginalized by others keen to promote their herd fertility services.