Spatial patterns of reproductive performance in Swedish dairy cattle

Our aim was to evaluate whether reproductive performance (RP) indicators – herd mean calving interval and herd mean insemination interval – varies spatially in Sweden. Spatial aspects of health events are of growing interest within epidemiology, but spatial patterns of the distribution of RP indicators among dairy herds are not well known. Spatial clustering of RP would be of interest to identify, because such results can be used for targeting advice and further research. We found clusters in different parts of Sweden; both clusters with longer and shorter reproductive intervals were found. However, no clusters remained when taking regional Dairy Herd Improvement Associations (DHIA, n=8 (2005) and 7 (2008)) into account. This indicates that there could be different approaches in different DHIA’s regarding the reproductive management of dairy herds, but direct geographical effects cannot be ruled out since regional DHIA’s are confounded with geographical determinants