Optimum Insemination Moment

how to interpret the ball graph and see your success rate - overlooked gem of T4C!

So you see cows in heat on T4C and/or on your inherd app. But what does that ball graph really represent?

First thing to know is that field called "Optimum Insemination Moment" starts from the 'first heat probability' moment. Which means the first time she goes beyond your set threshold on your farm (standard being 25) - this is when she gets her first heat attention and shows up on report 19.

Then the first 3 hours are yellow. The next 16 hours are green and the last 6 hours are yellow again. (This is true only if your farm is not using the 'Insemination feedback tool')

Report 19 shows your cows in heat

The 'Heat Insemination' in your Today app shows your cows in Heat as well as the Signals app

This will look different if you have the 'Insemination feedback' tool turned on. To verify if it is activated on your farm, simply go to Analysis/Reports => Farm Management => Reproduction => click on Options and the Insemination Feedback tool should be clicked on. The 'Round 1' is simply made so that you have an easy time to pick when you are entering the insemination - as seen below. For the ball graph to adjust according to your farm's success, make sure you pick the right hour of insemination as it changes the number of hours between heat and insemination.

Insemination Feedback Tool

Enter Custom Time or use your pre-set time

Now, if you'd like to see what that all means for your farm, there's a really interesting graph tucked under the Farm Management/Reproduction tab called Time of AI and chance of pregnancy. This is a really interesting graph that tends to get overlooked. It shows exactly what is the best period for you to breed a cow after the first heat attention - or more precisely what period has had the most success for you to get a cow pregnant. This might change over time, over the years, seasons or depending on feed quality and ration - therefore it's not a bad idea to go back to this report once a month and see if your best success period has changed.

Hoping you find this information useful, let us know some burning questions you'd like us to cover.

If you have any questions regarding some of the information above, don't hesitate to contact your FMS person!