In the cow-calf production system, reproductive efficiency is the No. 1 driver of profitability.
“That’s how this business works,” says James Rogers, North Dakota State University Extension forage crops production specialist. “We market the offspring from our herds. No offspring, no profit.”
Rogers references a measure of reproductive performance used in the swine industry called “non-productive days,” or days that a gilt or sow is neither gestating or lactating. Each non-productive day comes at a cost and serves as a benchmark measure of reproductive and economic performance…
