Reproductive performance of post-partum anoestrous dairy cows treated with progesterone and oestradiol benzoate

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Abstract
Extract Recent studies have shown that the anoestrous condition of post-partum dairy cows can be treated with a combination of progesterone (for 5–7 days) and oestradiol benzoate (ODB, 1 mg injected at 24 or 48 h after termination of the progesterone treatment) (1) McDougall, S, and Macmillan, KL . 1993. Follicle waves, ovulation and oestrus in the postpartum cow. Proceedings of the 13th Seminar for the Society of Dairy Cattle Veterinarians of the New Zealand Veterinary Association, : 33–47. [Google Scholar] . However, published data on the performance of this anoestrus treatment programme in commercial dairy herds is limited (2) Macmillan, KL, , Taufa, VK, , Day, AM, and McDougall, S . 1995. Some effects of using progesterone and oestradiol benzoate to stimulate oestrus and ovulation m dairy cows with anovulatory anoestrus. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, 55: 239–241. [Google Scholar] . During the 1994–95 and 1995–96 breeding seasons, performance of this anoestrus treatment programme was determined in nine and six spring-calving herds, respectively. In each herd, cows that had not been detected in oestrus using the tailpainting technique by Day -7 (Day 0 = start of the breeding season) were examined per rectum by each herd owner's attending veterinarian for the presence of a palpable corpus luteum (CL) on the ovary. Cows with a palpable CL or with an enlarged or infected uterus were excluded. Throughout the trial period, anoestrous cows were managed together with the cycling cows.