The fertility of autumn calving suckler beef cows is increased by the addition of prostaglandin to progesterone and eCG estrus sychronization treatment

The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of PGF2 alpha treatment on pregnancy and calving rates in autumn-calving suckler beef cows synchronized with progesterone and eCG. The population studied consisted of 124 Charolais and 130 Limousin cows in 13 and 12 beef herds, respectively. In each herd, pairs of cows were formed according to parity, body condition score and calving difficulty. Group 1 received a progesterone releasing intravaginal device (PRID) for 12 d with a capsule containing 10 mg estradiol benzoate at implant insertion and 500 IU eCG at PRID removal (Day 0). Group 2 received the same treatment plus 25 mg im dinoprost at Day -2. Each cow was artificially inseminated 56 h after PRID removal (Day 3). Plasma progesterone concentrations were measured to determine cyclicity prior to treatment in samples take on Days -22 and -12, to confirm the occurrence of ovulation (Day 13) and to determine the early pregnancy rate (Day 26). Serum pregnancy-specific protein B (PSPB) concentrations were determined to assess pregnancy rate at Day 39. The effects of variation factors on pregnancy and calving rates after treatment were studied using logistic mixed models and a Cox model, respectively. There were no significant differences between groups or breeds for the rate of cyclicity before treatment nor for ovulation rate (means, 74.1 and 95.7%, respectively). Cyclicity was, however, influenced by individual factors such as body condition score (OR = 3.36, P = 0.001), parity (OR = 5.4, P = 0.001) and herd factors such as stocking rate (OR = 5.62, P = 0.001). The use of a prostaglandin injection increased pregnancy rate at Day 26 (71.7 vs 56.7%, P = 0.01) and at 39 d (67.7 vs 54.3%, P = 0.02) and the calving rate at induced estrus (64.5 vs 48.5%, P = 0.01). We observed 9 twin calvings (5.6%) which occurred in cyclic cows only before treatment. Cows in Group 2 had a 1.5 greater chance of calving before 300 d following the first AI than cows in Group 1 (P = 0.03). In conclusion, the addition of PGF2 alpha injection, 48 h before PRID removal, increased reproductive efficiency in autumn-calving Charolais and Limousin suckler beef cows compared to a classical estrus synchronization treatment using a PRID + eCG.