Basics Of Estrous Synchronization In Beef Cattle

Rather than discussing the numerous protocols available for synchronizing estrus in beef cattle, this article will focus on the categories of synchronization protocols, pharmaceutical products available, and basic principles of estrous-synchronization protocols.

December 6, 2010

1 Min Read
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Rather than discussing the numerous protocols available for synchronizing estrus in beef cattle, this article will focus on the categories of synchronization protocols, pharmaceutical products available, and basic principles of estrous-synchronization protocols.

A list of effective estrous-synchronization programs for both beef cows and heifers is available here.

Approaches to estrous-synchronization: To facilitate the use of artificial insemination (AI), a wide variety of effective estrous synchronization programs have been developed for both beef cows and heifers. Many of these programs are designed to condense estrus (heat) into a period of three to seven days.

While these programs do condense heat expression in a group of cattle, they still require the labor needed for twice daily heat detection. Due to various constraints such as land mass and available labor, these heat-detection approaches are not feasible in all operations. Hence, several estrous-synchronization protocols have been developed that facilitate the mass breeding of all females at a predetermined time (fixed time-AI) rather than based on detection of standing heat.

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