How Soon After Birth Casn a Cow Breed Again?

For any cow-dogie functioning, a master goal is to raise the ratio of pounds of calf weaned per cow bred annually. A critical component of reaching this goal is keeping the herd every bit close to a 365-day calving cycle equally possible. To this end, shortening the postpartum anestrus interval and increasing first-service conception rates to reduce the need for cattle rebreeding are fundamental topics of discussion and enquiry within the industry. Both nutrition and torso condition touch on anestrus and conception, dictating the cows' ability to rebreed successfully.

Identifying and correcting problem cows betwixt calving and breeding is not an piece of cake proffer. As such, the best option is to set a cow upwardly for success earlier calving by ensuring that her BCS is between five.5 and 6 and that her nutritional needs are met.

Return to estrus

The length of the postpartum anestrus is cardinal to determining the calving interval. Given a typical 283-twenty-four hour period moo-cow gestation period, cows must have a postpartum interval of 82 days to produce i calf every 12 months. Cows cycle from anywhere betwixt 30 to 100 days after calving, with diet and cow historic period contributing to the anestrus length. In beef cows, the uterus returns to its non-pregnant size by around 30 days post-calving. Before cows are gear up to bicycle ordinarily, an additional 10 days is required to complete the uterine involution.

Beefiness cows that calve early in the flavor and cycle early on accept improve chances of fully completing their uterine involution and returning to their normal cyclicity earlier the start of the breeding season. Cows that are cycling before starting the breeding flavour are most likely to conceive on offset breeding — and within the first 21 days of the breeding season.

Research has also shown that the nutritional requirements for beef cattle in late gestation impact the cow'south health and return to normal cyclicity. The importance of trunk condition scores and nutrition in relation to formulation and pregnancy rates has been thoroughly studied, with results indicating that:

• Cows need admission to sufficient poly peptide and energy to calve with a BCS betwixt 5.5 and half-dozen. Not only is being in the proper condition important for assuasive the cow to produce loftier-quality colostrum, only this BCS must then be maintained throughout the breeding season.
• Underconditioned cows are slower to wheel, skewing the 365-day calving wheel, and cows that lose condition between calving and breeding are significantly less likely to conceive.
• Immediately post-obit calving, the cow is using the nutrition she is provided with to recover from the stresses of the gestation period and calving, likewise equally to produce milk for her new dogie. Only after those needs are met will the cow redirect her energy and nutrients toward preparing for the next breeding flavor.

A pregnant body of external work supports the use of fat supplementation to raise reproduction, generally in relation to managing cattle BSC and/or fugitive a negative energy remainder in transition animals. In these cases, oleic acrid (C18:1) may be the preferred fat source, equally information technology boosts energy being partitioned toward the moo-cow'due south body reserves.

Alternatively, stearic acid (C18:0) is preferentially used as an energy source, and dietary supplementation may reduce the cow'south reliance on mobilizing her torso reserves. All fat feeding should exist carefully considered — specially the type of fat and the timing of the feeding, as there are instances in which supplemental fat has reduced reproductive efficiency by increasing anestrous, reducing intake and, in turn, the energy residuum, or inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis.

Conception success and embryo bloodshed

A lot of attention is given to conception rates in beef cattle. Yet, research from Ft. Keogh in Montana indicates that 90–100% of cows will conceive at first breeding and that it is actually early embryo mortality that gives rise to many open cows.

• Approximately 25% of cows suffer embryonic loss before the 28th day of their gestation period, with a farther 8% of pregnancies lost before day 42.
• Unlike late-term pregnancy losses, early embryo mortality is oft not noticed on the subcontract. These losses are frequently miscategorized as cows that didn't catch on the kickoff round of breeding.
• Embryo mortality is estimated to cost U.S. cattle producers $1.4 billion annually every bit a result of open cows, lost productive days and rebreeding costs.
• Embryo survival is affected by a variety of factors, including maternal and fetal nutrition, genetics, maternal stress, parity and health. As a event, research examining this issue is limited, and often, no articulate answer for reducing embryonic loss is adamant.

How nutrition affects reproductive success

Balancing energy and poly peptide in cow diets is important, as lower conception rates are often observed in cows with very high dietary poly peptide intakes. Excess protein can increase the urea concentration in uterine secretions, which results in elevated prostaglandin levels. Equally prostaglandin is a signal for the body to return to cyclicity, this mechanism may be partly responsible for early embryonic losses in some herds.

As with body status maintenance, research indicates that fat supplementation may additionally have a direct impact on reproduction.

• Dietary fat has been reported to increment follicle formation in super-ovulated cows, peradventure by increasing the serum insulin levels every bit a mediating step.
• Luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion, which triggers ovulation and CL development, is controlled in role by an animal'southward energy condition; thus, fat supplementation that enhances the free energy rest volition too assistance in LH regulation.
• Dietary fat supplementation has as well been reported to increase serum progesterone. A poor-quality CL or bereft progesterone can both exist responsible for pregnancy losses before implantation, especially in cows that are bred on their outset cycle after calving. This one time again highlights the importance of early calving to provide cows sufficient time to consummate their anestrus and return to normal cyclicity before the get-go of the breeding flavor.

Beyond energy and protein, trace minerals — such as copper, zinc, manganese and selenium — play primal roles in health, metabolism and the full general nutritional requirements of beefiness cattle. Sub-clinical deficiencies in trace minerals tin lead to reduced cyclicity and macerated reproductive health. Minerals impact colostrum quality and calf immunity, just their value for the moo-cow should too not be forgotten.

Optimizing trace minerals can aid in maintaining optimal uterine health past reducing the risk of:

• Metritis.
• Retained placentas.
• Other adverse events that lengthen the time needed for uterine involution and a return to normal cyclicity.

Nutrigenomics inquiry has besides shown that minerals affect several metabolic pathways related to the preparation of the endometrium for implantation.

Other factors affecting success

The period before the start of the calving season is a practiced time to go over your herd health plan. Connect with your veterinarian and other experts to ensure that your management and vaccination programs are in line with the all-time practices for your region.

This is also a good time to brand sure that your recordkeeping is up to engagement. Diagnosing breeding and reproductive issues is often an exercise in looking back. Working from accurate records tin can brand the difference in identifying the underlying causes and developing a plan to prevent them next year.

The bottom line

Beyond the importance of individual nutrients, timing the supplemental feeding of cows correctly is important. The last 50 to 60 days of the moo-cow's gestation period are well-known to be critical for colostrum quality, likewise equally calf health and growth — but preparation for calving and rebreeding get hand in mitt. As information technology takes time for nutrients to exist absorbed, metabolized and take effect in the fauna, a feeding program to support reproductive soundness and convenance-related stresses should begin before calving and continue through the confirmation of pregnancy.

A few key indicators to monitor are the percentages of mature cows calving during the starting time 21 days of the calving season and of belatedly-flavour-calving cows. If either of these metrics run above average, it is time to take a close wait at your calving and breeding season program.

Merely put, cows need to be set upwards for successful rebreeding earlier calving. Waiting to retrieve nearly the breeding season until after the calf hits the ground is too late to affect major change in your cow herd's functioning.

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Source: https://www.alltech.com/blog/are-your-beef-cows-ready-rebreed

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