Performance and Cost-Efficiency of Single Hormonal Treatment Protocols in Tropical Anestrous Dairy Cows

Abstract

This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the performance of hormone treatment protocols, determine the factors associated with pregnancy success after hormone treatment, and compare the cost-efficiencies of two types of hormone treatment among cyclic and noncyclic anestrous dairy cows. The clinical records of 279 anestrous cows that received hormone treatment for artificial insemination (AI) from 64 herds in the western region of Thailand were obtained from Kasetsart University Veterinary Teaching Hospital from January to August 2017. The performance of the hormone treatment protocols, fixed-time AI (TAI) and estrus detection before AI (EAI), showed that the pregnancy risk for the TAI protocol was higher than that for the EAI protocol, but pregnancy per AI did not differ significantly between the two protocols in cyclic and noncyclic cows. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that cows receiving the TAI protocol were more likely to be pregnant compared to those treated with the EAI protocol. Cows with a 3.00 body condition score (BCS) < 3.75 after treatment and loose-housed cows were more likely to become pregnant. Treatment during winter showed higher pregnancy success than that in the summer and rainy seasons. The cost-efficiency analysis showed that the TAI protocol was the most cost-efficient option for noncyclic cows, whereas the EAI protocol was the most cost-efficient option for cyclic cows.

Keywords: anestrous; cost-effective; dairy cow; hormone treatment; reproductive performance.

Figure 1

Schematic diagram showing hormone protocols that were applied among 279 anestrous dairy cows from 64 herds under the Herd Health and Production Service Program, the Large Animals Unit, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Nong Rho, Kasetsart University, in 3 provinces of the central-western region of Thailand from January to August 2017; Protocols 1 to 4 were recognized as hormone treatment with estrus detection before AI (EAI), and Protocols 5 to 7 were recognized as hormone treatment with fixed-time AI (TAI). TAI = fixed-time artificial insemination, AI = artificial insemination, GnRH = gonadotropin-releasing hormone, PGF_2α = prostaglandin F2alpha.

Figure 2

Causal diagram illustrating postulated causal paths linking all explanatory variables related to pregnancy success in anestrous dairy cows that were treated by hormone treatment protocols and raised under tropical conditions.