Reproductive Problems and Dry Cows – how are they linked?
It has once been said that a ‘repro problem is a dry cow problem’. What we do in the dry period has flow on effects for reproduction four months later. So the question is how, and why? Here are a few of the reasons:
- Over-conditioned cows eat less
Let’s start with the one that everyone talks about – body condition – but from the perspective of over-conditioned dry cows, or dry cows that gain weight rapidly through the dry period. Here’s the short version; fat cows eat less post calving.
Why? excessive fat stores inhibit appetite through high levels of circulating non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and hormones like leptin¹ which send a signal to the brain to reduce appetite. This reduction in appetite continues after calving, meaning excessive body condition loss post calving, increasing metabolic disease risk² and reducing the chance of her getting (and staying) pregnant.
If you do find your herd is in this situation of being too high in BCS prior to calving, reach out to the Nutritech Team (Contact | Nutritech. Not only can they help with dry cow diet balancing using Diet Check software, they also have new technologies like Nexulin® and LipoEN®+ which can be really useful to support over-conditioned cows.
- Feed-restricted cows lose rumen capacity
On the flip side, dry cows held on really tight breaks and restricted on feed lose rumen capacity. When they calve these cows lack the capacity to eat the volume required to meet the demands of milk production, meaning they lose more body condition and struggle to get in calf.
The solution is to ensure lots of physically effective (chewable) fibre is fed to ensure cows maintain capacity, keeping cows fully fed throughout the day on fibrous feeds.
Contact the Nutritech team (Contact | Nutritech ) to help balance your dry cow diets to ensure their nutrient requirements are met for important processes like mammary gland repair and foetal development.
- Imbalanced diets in dry and springer cows depletes mineral stores and increases milk fever risk, resulting in:
- Delayed uterus involution (getting back down to normal size) – cows with clinical or sub-clinical milk fever lack the calcium in the blood to contract smooth muscle, affecting the uterus.
- More metritis – due to mineral depletion affecting the immune system as well as low calcium contributing to an increase in difficult calvings and retained foetal membranes. Metritis significantly reduces the chance of getting back in calf, reducing conception rates by 20% or more, and increasing the time to pregnancy by roughly 18–28 days³
- More mastitis – milk fever (again, clinical or sub-clinical) reduces smooth muscle contractions. This also applies to the teat sphincter which increases the risk of environmental pathogens getting into the teat canal. With both metritis and mastitis a significant amount of glucose then goes to fighting infection, taking away glucose from reproductive functions. Any infection itself also drops the available calcium in the blood, as significant amounts of calcium are used in the immune response4
- Increased risk of rumen acidosis – low blood calcium also affects rumen contractions, increasing the risk of SARA (sub-acute rumen acidosis) as the rumen isn’t moving acid to the rumen wall effectively. It also reduces feed intake, both of which will decrease energy balance and fertility outcomes.
This shows that when it comes to reproduction, the dry period is a critical time for managing body condition and nutrient status. Nutritech have a range of mineral options for dry cows and energy supplements that can help improve reproductive success. To get a more balanced diet and having a smoother transition period, get in touch with your local Nutritech Area Manager.
1Penn State University, Body Condition in Transition Cows (Accessed May 2026).
2Lüttgenau et al., (2016). Body condition loss and increased serum levels of nonesterified fatty acids enhance progesterone levels at estrus and reduce estrous activity and insemination rates in postpartum dairy cows. Theriogenology Journal.85: 656-663.
3Sheldon IM, et al., (2020). Preventing postpartum uterine disease in dairy cattle depends on avoiding, tolerating and resisting pathogenic bacteria. Theriogenology 1;150:158-165
4Horst, E.J. et al (2020) Effects of maintaining eucalcemia following immunoactivation in lactating Holstein dairy cows, Journal of Dairy Science, 103 (8)