Raising replacement heifers is important aspect of dairy farm management that can be characterized as a long-term performance and high-cost production period. This study was investigated the effect of month of age at the first pregnancy on calving difficulty of Holstein heifers. Heifers was inseminated with semen of easy-calving sire and the reproductive performance was compared for the effect of first pregnancy at 12-14 months of age (12 month old), 15-16 months of age (15 month old), 17-19 months of age (17 month old) and > 20 months of age (20 month old) in Holstein heifers. Holstein heifers showed different easy calving score (ECS) depending on their ages; frequency of ECS 1 was 55.2%, 64.9%, 59.4% and 52.0% at 12, 15, 17 and 20 month of age, respectively. Frequency of ECS 4 was 5.2%, 1.8%, 6.3% and 4.8% at 12, 15, 17 and 20 month of age, respectively. The rates of retained placenta postparturition in first pregnancy age category was 12.3% at 12 months of age, 5.3% at 15 months of age, 9.4% at 17 months of age and 19.0% at 20 months of age. When It was evaluated by present results, the reproductive performance like easy calving score (ECS), retained placenta rates, and abortion and stillbirth rates of heifers which was inseminated at 14 months old or less and at 17 months old or more was reduced. Therefore, the first pregnancy age for optimum reproductive performance was 15-16 months.

Presently, the first pregnancy age of dairy heifers attended National Dairy Herd Improvement Program (NDHI) in Korea has increased, and more research have been requested to evaluate the possibility of decreasing the first pregnancy age of dairy heifers. Accordingly, this study was investigated the effects of the month of age at the first service and pregnancy on the reproductive efficiency of Holstein heifers. For these, the reproductive performance of heifers was analyzed by evaluating the effects of first insemination service at 12-14 months of age (12 month old), 15-16 months of age (15 month old), 17-19 months of age (17 month old), and > 20 months of age (20 month old) in Holstein heifers. The service numbers per conception in the first insemination months were 1.85±1.22, 1.59±0.77, 1.58±0.72, and 1.76±0.97 times at 12, 15, 17 and 20 months of age, respectively. The conception rates in the first service were 51.2, 57.8, 54.8, and 52.9% at 12, 15, 17 and 20 months of age, respectively. The conception ages were 453.2±78.9, 512.1±75.9, 590.1±98.0, and 713.0±74.5 days in the heifers serviced firstly at 12, 15, 17 and 20 months of age, respectively. There was significantly difference in the conception age among groups (p<0.05). The cumulative conception rates in the heifers serviced firstly at 12, 15, 17 and 20 months of age were 51.21, 57.8, 54.8 and 53.0% by the first service, 29.8, 30.1, 32.3, 23.5% by the second service, and 19.0, 12.1, 12.9 and 23.5% by the third service, respectively. The service numbers per conception in the first pregnancy months were 1.31, 1.55, 2.0, 2.05 times at 12, 15, 17 and 20 months of the first service age, respectively. The service numbers per conception in the 12 and 15 months of age were significantly lower than those in the 17 and 20 months of age (p<0.05). The rates of repeat-breeder were 6.0, 11.3, 22.0, and 41.0% in the heifers serviced firstly at 12, 15, 17 and 20 months of age, respectively. These results demonstrate that first pregnancy of Holstein heifers should be conducted at 15 months of age, because the age at first pregnancy in heifers can be substantially influenced through implementation of reproductive management and performance.