In Summer's Heat Keep Breeding Window Open A Little Longer
Brenda Lee-Turner, Semex Alliance Marketing Communications Specialist With temperatures topping +90˚F/32˚C in many parts of the North America, dairymen are struggling to get their cows bred back on time. Heat and its partner in crime, humidity, wreak havoc on dairies, pushing milk production and pregnancy rates down and herd health problems up. Incidences of stress on cows can occur at temperatures as low as 72˚F/22˚C when combined with higher humidity, dramatically reducing profitability on the dairy. Looking for solutions to keep the window of breeding opportunity open a little longer and combat these issues, Semex has designed its Repromix product to help get those problem, repeat breeders back into calf, reducing days open and into their next lactation and the milking line. The theory behind Semexs Repromix product is related to a phenomenon called capacitation. Capacitation is a series of changes all sperm from mammals must undergo while in the female reproductive tract in order to fertilize an egg. This process includes the modification of proteins on the outside of the sperm cell by the cows reproductive tract. Without this process, sperm cannot fertilize an egg. As timing with all reproduction is key, the time needed for the capacitation process to occur varies from species to species and in our case, bull to bull. Based on our theory, bulls can have different capacitation profiles, says Tom Kroetsch, Semex Alliance Director Production & Quality Control. But (all sires) will still have very good fertility when used in normal fertility cows in most herds with good reproductive management. In general the timeline for capacitation in bull semen is generally 4 to 12 hours, but as shown in Figure 1 there appear to be early, average and late capacitating bulls. Semexs Repromix combines the semen from three bulls with complementary capacitation profiles, says Kroetsch. This ... Leer más...
.jpg)
