What are the key points for managing the gestation period of a cow?
Early pregnancy diagnosis plays an important role in improving dairy cattle production management and herd quality. It is of great significance for increasing the herd reproduction rate and reducing the rate of non-pregnant animals. Through early pregnancy diagnosis, one can have a clear understanding of which cows are pregnant and which are not, and thus can take corresponding feeding and management measures. Pregnant cows should be fed reasonably to ensure the health and normal development of both the mother and the fetus and to prevent miscarriage; for non-pregnant cows, treatment should be taken promptly to promote estrus and re-insemination. At the same time, the reasons for non-pregnancy should be analyzed and solutions found, so as to minimize the losses caused by non-pregnancy. Therefore, early pregnancy diagnosis is a very important task on dairy farms.
Interrupted pregnancy is a common gestational disease on dairy farms. The harm it causes lies not only in fetal death and a reduced calving rate, but more importantly in disrupting the normal calving schedule, prolonging the number of non-pregnant days and the calving interval, and directly affecting the milk yield of the current lactation and the total lifetime milk yield. Therefore, preventing miscarriage in dairy cows is an important task in dairy production.
1. Strengthen feeding and management.The ration should be balanced and the feed should be diversified, and the ration should be adjusted promptly according to changes in physiological traits. When energy and protein feeds are supplied reasonably, full attention should be paid to the supply of mineral feeds such as calcium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc and iron, and vitamins A, D and E; do not feed moldy or spoiled feed; do not shout at, hit or chase the cattle; when treating pregnant cows, medication should be used with caution, and laxatives and estrus-inducing drugs should not be used indiscriminately.
2. If clinical miscarriage has already occurred, the cause should be identified.Each cow that has miscarried should be fed separately, and the aborted fetus and fetal membranes should be carefully examined to observe whether the fetus has any deformities and whether the placenta has edema or necrosis. To confirm the nature of the disease, the cow's blood, uterine secretions, the fetal abomasum and its contents, liver and spleen can be collected for microbiological examination; check whether the cow has any systemic disease and understand the feeding and management situation. The aborted fetus, fetal membranes and bedding straw should be deeply buried or burned.
3. Vaccination.To prevent miscarriage caused by infectious diseases, the following should be done: calves aged 5 months to 6 months should be vaccinated with swine Brucella vaccine strain No. 2 or sheep Brucella vaccine strain No. 5. Adult cows should undergo the Brucellosis tube agglutination test once to twice a year, and positive cows should be isolated; as the herd expands and the frequent introduction of external cattle increases, some new infectious diseases of dairy cattle, such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis and bovine viral diarrhea, are also gradually spreading, so vaccination should be considered.