Previously, a candidate gene approach identified 51 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with genetic merit for reproductive traits and 26 associated with genetic merit for production in dairy bulls. We evaluated association of these 77 SNP with days open (DO) for first lactation in a population of Holstein cows grouped based on predicted transmitting ability for daughter pregnancy rate (DPR): ≤ −1 (n = 1220) and ≥1.5 (n = 1053), and located on 11 farms in Florida and California. Cows were genotyped using a Sequenom MassARRAY assay. To evaluate phenotypes, farm records were retrieved from on-farm computers and combined with records from the national genetic evaluation system. The association of the genetic variants with DO was evaluated using the MIXED procedure of SAS V9.4 (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC). The model included farm, number of copies of the minor allele, and the numerator relationship matrix to account for (co)variances among animals. For each SNP, the genotype was treated as a categorical variable to estimate additive and heterosis effects. Days open was lower (P < 0.0001) for cows in the high DPR group as compared with the low DPR group (97.8 ± 2.6 d vs 163.0 ± 2.9 d). There were 6 SNP with significant additive effects (P < 0.05) on DO (COQ9, FCER1G, FST, GPLD1, MRGPRF and OCLN) and an additional 6 SNPS with a tendency (P < 0.10) for an association (ACAT2, CD14, PCCB, PMM2, RABEP2 and SREBF1). For example, DO for cows with 0, 1, or 2 copies of the minor allele for COQ9 averaged 139.4 ± 3.5, 134.3 ± 2.8, and 123.6 ± 3.5 d, respectively. The DO for cows with 0, 1, or 2 copies of the minor allele for FST averaged 124.9 ± 3.3, 134.8 ± 2.6 and 135.8 ± 4.4 d, respectively. For 9 of 12 genes, the favorable allele for DO was also the favorable allele in the earlier report based on bulls. The SNP related to genetic and phenotypic estimates of fertility are likely to be informative markers for genetic selection. Moreover, the study of the role of these genes could provide new insights into the physiological regulation of fertility in dairy cattle (USDA AFRI 2013–68004–20365).