IDEXX Milk Pregnancy Test
a new tool for pregnancy diagnosis in cattle
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21423/aabppro20123968Keywords:
dairy cattle, pregnancy, eproductive management, re-breeding, lactation, dry period, ELISA, pregnancy-associated glycoproteins, open cowsAbstract
Accurate and timely detection of pregnancy in dairy cows is an essential component of any bovine reproductive management program. Veterinarians and farmers use detection of non-pregnant (open) cows to make decisions regarding re-breeding of cattle and to manage calving intervals, thereby maximizing milk production and revenue for the farm. Increased profits result from many areas, including decreased average days-in-milk for the lactating herd, additional milk yield, less culling of cows due to reproductive failure, and less variation in lengths of lactation and dry period. Currently, pregnancy is determined by rectal palpation, transrectal ultrasound of the cow, or laboratory-based testing of blood samples. IDEXX has recently developed an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) for the detection of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) in milk samples to provide another laboratory-based method for the accurate detection of pregnancy, which could provide an important tool for the identification of open cows in dairy herds.
