Aquapuncture Therapy of Repeat Breeding in Dairy Cattle

Abstract

Repeat breeders cause great economic loss in dairy herds. This study determined the efficacy of simple aquapuncture therapy (acupuncture combined with injection) to treat repeat breeders in two dairy herds (one in Hsinchu County and the other in Tainan County). Both herds had used gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) beforehand to treat the symptom but the success rate was poor--about 30%. Therefore, cows that failed to respond to GnRH were given the aquapuncture treatment. A total of 18 animals (two heifers and 16 cows) that had failed to conceive to 3-9 services were treated by aquapuncture, in which 10 ml and 5 ml of 50% glucose solution were injected at Baihui (Hundred Meetings, the depression in the center of the lumbosacral space) and Shenpeng (Kidney Shelf, the depression in the space between the lumbar vertebral transverse processes 5-6) acupoints, respectively with a 21G, 1.5-inch hypodermic needle. Both acupoints belong to the traditional acupuncture points of bovine and equine systems. Most animals showed heat within 14 days after aquapuncture and were inseminated artificially. Serum progesterone concentrations and rectal palpation were used for pregnancy diagnosis. The pregnancy rate after the treatment was 14/18 (77.7%) and 12/18 (66.6%) based on progesterone concentration and rectal palpation respectively, suggesting acupuncture as a simple and effective method to treat repeat breeders in dairy herds. However, the final result obtained from actual delivery of fetus in the experimental animals was only 8/18 (44.4%).

Comparison of Pharmacopuncture, Aquapuncture and Acepromazine for Sedation of Horses

“…Other substances may also be used for this purpose like glucose and vitamins. Autologous blood (hemopuncture) and bee venom (apipuncture) are injected mainly for anti-inflammatory purposes ( 3 – 7 ). Recently, pharmacopuncture, i.e.…”

Clinical Approach to the Repeat Breeder Cow Syndrome

“…We also find references in the literature about the positive effect of aquapuncture therapy (Lin et al, 2002), i.e. acupuncture combined with injections.…”

The Effect of Oculo-Acupuncture on Acute Hepatic Injury Induced by Carbon Tetrachloride in Dogs

“…The successful use of traditional eastern medicine to counter human and animal diseases has been recently reported. This includes needle-acupuncture (AP) (Yung, 2004), injection-AP (Kim et al, 2005;Lin et al, 2002;Hong et al, 2002;Hwang et al, 2001;You et al, 1997), electro-AP (Kim et al, 2004;Lee et al, 2004;Jang et al, 2003), laser-AP (Hong et al, 2002), hemo-AP (Chea, 1997) and moxibustion (Li et al, 2004;Jang et al, 2003).…”