Practical Aspects of Twin Pregnancy Diagnosis in Cattle

Abstract

Twin pregnancies are an economically unwanted phenomenon in dairy cattle, not only because they increase pregnancy losses, but also because antibiotics usage and culling rate of the dam are also dramatically increased due to them, furthermore animal welfare issues are also affected through them. In cattle, under field conditions using an early pregnancy determination tool, the first accurate diagnosis from the pregnancy status is available from around day 28, although further confirmations of pregnancy are required. Twin pregnancy diagnosis is available either by rectal palpation or ultrasonography. The measurement of pregnancy specific proteins are also available to determine gestation, but there is still a long way to go to properly identify twin pregnancies. In this commentary, we compared our own results with the literature data in this field with a special emphasis on the clinical practices.

Recent Possibilities for the Diagnosis of Early Pregnancy and Embryonic Mortality in Dairy Cows

“…Special attention must be paid to the diagnosis of twin pregnancy by clearly locating the two embryos because twin pregnancy loss and spontaneous twin reduction have been reported to occur up to Day 90 of gestation [40,41]. Possibilities for diagnosing twin pregnancy in the field have been reviewed recently by Szelényi et al [42].…”

Role of high quality feed supplement additional to the success of artificial insemination using sexing semen on Limousin Crossbred Cow

“…In males, sexing semen has lower quality than non-sexing semen because during the sexing semen process it goes through a long series and damages spermatozoa physically and physiologically Bonneya et al [28] the centrifugation process reduces the motility of spermatozoa and damages the acrosome and membranes. Pregnancy examination was carried out by rectal palpation and using ultrasonography which was carried out when 2 months of age after AI was reached, according to Szelenyi et al [29] stated that ultrasound examination of pregnancy is better done at gestational age above 28 days this is done to facilitate identification of the fetal heart). The low pregnancy rate is also caused by AI acceptors found in underdeveloped follicles, and ovarian hypofunction, the condition of these reproductive organs is influenced by reproductive hormones, one of which is the quality of feed provided by breeders.…”

Efficacy validation of a low-cost handmade simulator (SIMCA-COW) in palpation, ultrasonography evaluation, and artificial insemination in cows

“…Rectal palpation makes it possible to evaluate the structures of the feminine reproductive system (cervix, uterus, uterine horns, and ovaries) and perform gestation diagnosis. Pregnancy can be determined by rectal ultrasound [ 2 ] or by manual detection of definitive signs, including the allantocorium membrane, amniotic vesicle, placentomes, or fetus [ 3 ]. These reproductive techniques usually require practice on a minimum of 200 cows to achieve a constant level of experience in palpation and structure identification [ 4 ].…”