<b>Risk factors associated with failure of first breeding pregnancy in dairy cows</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v31i3.4108

Abstract

This study investigated the risk factors for failure in the conception to the first post-parturition service (CFS). Holstein cows (n = 427) had their reproductive, health and nutritional status monitored from the period of pre-parturition to the CFS. Occurrence of diseases and body condition scores (BCS), at pre- and post-parturition, as well as milk composition, were recorded. Logistic regression models were used to isolate the risk factors and associations among the several risks for success or failure in CFS. The variables studied were lactation number, season of the first service, occurrence of peripartum diseases (PD), ratio of fat and protein of milk (RFP) and alterations in BCS. Primiparous cows presented larger success chance for first service than multiparous specimens. The inseminated cows in the winter presented, approximately, five times more chances of CFS than the cows inseminated in the summer. Cows that presented PD had smaller conception success than healthy cows. The animals that presented a better ruminal condition, determined by RFP, had better conception than the animals with reduced RFP. BCS, appropriate in the different productive phases, proved to be an important tool to identify cows with failure risk in the CFS.