Pregnancy Diagnosis in Cattle

It is very important to diagnose the pregnancy status of your animals at 35 to 40 days of insemination because 30% of the pregnant animals come in heat so if pregnancy is confirmed at 35 days then there is no need to go for insemination. The false expression of heat is also a cause of repeat breeding.

In the cases of repeat breeding, it is necessary to diagnose pregnancy b/w 35 and 40 days. Usually, the veterinary compounders or inseminators are diagnosing pregnancy at 3 months of pregnancy. Sometimes if there is pseudopregnancy or if the cow goes into anestrus then it is a big loss to the farmer. As the calving will be delayed by 3 months. As a rule, if you will give the antibiotic treatment at calving and if the animal is not mastatic then if you give prostaglandin 10 days after calving the cow should exhibit heat within a month and in consecutive heat, in between 60-90 days it must preferably fall pregnant so as to deliver 1 calf per year. This is very much possible by the use of prostaglandin and GnRH.

So in nutshell, the problem of repeat breeding can be easily overcome by proper pregnancy diagnosis earlier. The lactation length of exotic cows is over 305 days. Whereas our Desi cow lactate for 150 days only. Once Desi cow or buffalo is pregnant then they do not lactate.

However, the exotic cow may calve while they are producing a lot of milk (10-30 litres). It is necessary to dry a pregnant cow at 8 months of pregnancy because 60 days are required for the proper lactation in the next calving, during the dry period the cow’s immunity goes up and there is the regeneration of the milk-secreting alveolar cells. The drying of the cow also helps repair the rumen for proper digestion of food and repair of the hoof for avoiding lameness. Then after drying the cow long-acting antibiotic should be infused in the udder. The one such antibiotic I use on my cow is Capravin (MSD) which has an antibiotic effect for 70 days.

This long period of antibiotic effect helps getting rid of subclinical mastitis. So as to avoid the problem of repeat breeding during the dry period cow should be dewormed with ivermectin. Ivermectin is given to non-lactating animal only, in the lactating animal it is not used and it is illegal.

The ivermectin is given at the rate of 1ml per 50kg subcutaneous once. So for a cow of 400 kg, you will need 8ml of ivermectin, its injections are painful so subcutaneous injection should be given at 2 or 3 sites and prior to its injection, Avil 5ml IM may be injected half an hour before.

The repeat breeding cases are quite prevalent with the farmers who are inviting the local inseminators for insemination. The semen from ABS and sexed technology with a higher conception rate is available. This may be procured from Shri Bhaskar Sharma, 8279835752, or from Shri Rajiv Sinha ABS India, 9810708631.

It is clear from the above that the pregnancy diagnosis is most important in overcoming the RB. In human the pregnancy diagnoses by the presents of human chronic gonadotropin (HCG), Gonadotropin is a big molecule and the simple ELISA kit helps in diagnosing pregnancy in human. This is possible at six weeks of pregnancy, in this a drop of urine is taken and pregnancy is confirmed.

However, in cows, no such protein is found in the urine after conception and the only option is to determine pregnancy by the presents of progesterone. Progesterone is a very small molecule having a molecular weight of 304 Dalton. It is not possible to monitor this progesterone in the milk or urine because it is a costly affair, and you will need sophisticated laboratories for that. So the pregnancy is diagnosed by rectal pupation of the uterus at 40 days and 60 days.

It is very easy to palpate the uterine horn, at 40-45 days and diagnose the pregnancy. Because there is a fluid accumulation in the pregnant horn. However, it needs quite some experience and this is usually not practised by the inseminators.

At 60 says the pregnant horn enlarges the size of small football and diagnoses very easily. For this, insertion of an end in the rectum of the cow is the only pelvic cavity, and you can feel the pregnancy. You can do it yourself once your animal is diagnosed pregnant by the inseminator or doctor. It is a matter of practice and you can learn on your own cows very easily, the size of the uterine horn at 40 days and 60 days is shown in the figure below.

For running a commercial dairy it is very necessary to procure a 35 litres liquid nitrogen Jar and one small jar for carrying semen. The jars are also available in your district or you may contact Shree Bhaskar Sharma. 35 litres Jar costs about 30 thousand rupees and a 3-litre jar costs about 20 thousand rupees. The ABS or sexed technology is delivering semen at your door.  So one jar of 35-litre capacity is sufficient. In a 35 litre jar, you can charge with the liquid nitrogen every 2 months. The cost of liquid nitrogen is 25 to 30 rupees. Before you start a dairy with high producing animals, you should ensure a liquid nitrogen jar and the liquid nitrogen, and semen. Nowadays sexed semen producing the only female is also available, and it is showing good results in heifer but the adult cows if they are cycling regularly they may fall pregnant.

The cost of ABS for this semen is ranging from 100 rupees to 700 rupees, unsexed semen and 1000 to 5000 sexed semen. This is widely being used because the cows of this semen are producing 50 litres of milk in the second lactation and 35 litres of milk from the first lactation, the telephone no is given – 8619734814.

For the production of 200 litres of milk, you need only 4 or 5 animals. So when you are planning dairy you should plan your milk production per day rather than a cow. You may not get 200 litres from 20 cows but you can get 200 litres from 5 cows.