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Declining fertility in dairy cows: €7.4 million grant for research

Published: November 20, 2007
Source : Innovations Report
The greatest problem facing the dairy industry today, at primary production level, is the continuing decline in cow fertility. Low fertility leads to reduced milk yields, increased labour and veterinary costs, increased culling of cows due to failure to become pregnant and the resultant loss of income to dairy farmers.

It is also implicated in the decreasing competitiveness of the Irish dairy industry, which results in increased numbers of people leaving dairy farming with negative consequences to both the industry and fabric of rural communities in Ireland.

And while milk prices are at an all time high at present, the future globalisation of agricultural markets has the potential to reverse this and put increased pressure on dairy farm income. It is imperative therefore, to address the critical problem of low fertility in dairy cows in order to have a positive impact on the Irish dairy sector which is responsible for over a quarter of all food exports and is a major contributor to the prepared food sector (22% of total exports),

Low fertility is mostly a result of events before or after insemination. And to overcome these barriers we require a greater understanding of the biochemical and cellular processes behind the co-ordinated physiological regulation of ovarian, oocyte, embryo and uterine function at this important time.

With a recent grant award of €7.4 million from Science Foundation Ireland (announced on 13 November 2007), a group of internationally recognised scientists from University College Dublin (UCD) and Teagasc, along with industry partners Pfizer and Biotrin Technologies, will focus on investigating the biology of peri-ovulatory and post ovulatory events that lead to the establishment of pregnancy in the dairy cow.

“The idea is to develop approaches and/or technologies to improve fertility in dairy cows, discoveries which may also have real implications for the treatment of infertility in other species, particularly humans,”  says Professor Alexander Evans from the UCD School of Agriculture, Food Science, and Veterinary Medicine, who is leading the research project.

“The intensive selection for increased milk production, coupled with improved nutrition which has led to significant improvements in milk output per cow over recent decades has resulted in a serious decline in cow fertility worldwide,”  explains Professor Evans. “A decline in first service conceptions rates of about 1% per year has been reported.”

“This new research aims to enable us to counteract this decline in dairy cow fertility,”  he says. “With a critical mass and using the latest technologies, our multi-disciplinary team of researchers and industry scientists will analyse a continuum of critical biological events which lead to pregnancy to find solutions to these fertility problems.”

The industry partners on the research project, Pfizer Animal Health and Biotrin have identified this area of research as having major potential for the development of new products for a global market. Both companies have already commercialised reproduction-related products and have major ongoing Research and Development programmes in the area.

Pfizer scientists will bring their scientific technologies and commercial insights and acumen to enhance the commercial strength of the project through chemical synthesis, evaluation, and screening of new biomarkers and potential therapies to modulate reproductive function. Scientists in Biotrin will assist in the development and commercialisation of diagnostic products.

The grant support received from SFI towards this research project clearly demonstrates the government’s acknowledgement of the importance of the agri-food industries and, in particular, the dairy industry to Ireland’s future prosperity. This significant investment in research and scientific training will further serve a knowledge driven agricultural industry in Ireland.
Source
Innovations Report
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Dr. Giridhar Shende
Dr. Giridhar Shende
3 de julio de 2008
I am Dr. G. P. Shende working as Assistant Professor at Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur. I am going to work on role of livestock in global warming & its effect on livestock production & how to reduce heat stress on livestock. I need your help regarding how to conduct the study on the topic cited above, what parameters should be taken etc. Please reply on my E mail ID. With regards, and thanking you. Dr. G. P. Shende Assistant Professor, Dept. of Livestock Production & Management, Nagpur Veterinary College, Nagpur
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Helga Dietrich
Organic Farm & garden Supplies
21 de noviembre de 2007
Here we go again - more and more medicines will be put in these poor animals just so that the milk productions per animal plus ongoing fertility not be disturbed. Has ever anyone thought that the problems discussed in this article are possibly due to the unnatural high milk production - that this might be natures answer. These veterinary medicine companies only care about the animals as long as they are their customers. It is time for the farmers to understand that as more natural you keep your animals as better they will perform. A healthy cow is a very valuable animal - it should live and produce as long as possible without it being forced into unrealistically high production quota - milk or off-spring. An animal worn out like this must react negatively, his life time is shortened, it might abort many times, it is stuffed with all kinds of chemicals which we the consumer will also be fed with. This is definitely not sustainability. Sustainability means working with nature and not against it. And not to forget - the calves coming from these animals are much weaker than calves from not so chemically infested mothers. But good for the chemical industry - these calves will need ongoing medical treatment for the rest of their lifes - this is business planning at its best. Most of these medicines and supplements are during their production and packaging and transporting process sure not contributing to the planets biggest goal at these times - namely to reduce global warming. Methane gass is one of the gasses rising up into our skies we need to reduce. Cattle produce due to their intestinal structure and maybe in addition due to the not always natural feed (good grazing and in winter good hay) enormous amounts of these gasses. The intestines are purely anaerobe with lots of pathogens - but one change this. There is a product of which you need 50 g per ton of feed or 3 g per day per cow which will cleanse out the intestines becoming more aerob and thus producing lesser methane - plus the animals after a short while are in much better shape. If anyone is interested you can contact me. But that is not why I wrote this comment - it is because we have lost our connection to nature, we dont hear and see anymore what our grand fathers have still seen and heard. We close our eyes to the animals and our environments needs and only listen to the well trained (in sales) representatives of the mentioned and other companies. The time will come where we will pay the price for being deaf and blind to nature - it is already on its way. One must keep one thing in mind - whatever we try we can never win against nature. We can destroy our planet - who lost then? We or nature - of course we because nature has millions of years time to re-establish itself again but we don not have that time. Think about this and react. I would love to hear from you. Regards, HD
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