Why has conception in cows come to a Himalayan task? Know the reasons

 Why has conception in cows come to a Himalayan task? Know the reasons

R Anantha Krishnan


               Image source: The New Indian Express


A major component in a profitable dairy farm is high milk-yielding animals. Along with that, it is equally important to ensure the reproductive health of your dairy animals. 

A cow that conceives in one or two inseminations is an asset for a dairy farmer or an entrepreneur.

Nowadays, almost 30% of the cattle in dairy farms are sold due to repeated breeding requirements. If a cattle is not conceived even after 2-3 inseminations, such animals are called repeat breeders.


Why the repeat breeding trend is rising?


It is a complex task to identify the reasons specifically, but we can say that 25% of repeated breeding is due to fetal death and 15% is due to failure to fertilize.

Image Source: Farmers Weekly


The need to avoid repeat breeding.


The average duration of heat cycles in cows is 21 days. If the heat duration completes without conception, it’s a financial loss for the farmer. To avoid such a situation, effective measures should be taken by adopting efficient insemination methods in which the cattle will be conceived in one or 2 services.

Image Source: American Cattlemen



Some reasons for failure in conception :


  • Genetic reasons

    Deficit growth of cow’s reproductive organs or other genetic defects leading to hormonal aberrations can cause defects in conception and fetal deaths. Otherwise, the genetic defects of the semen or bull can also lead to defects in conception.


Image source: Repro360




  • Untimely insemination

    Failure to identify heat periods can lead to untimely insemination. This reduces the chances of conception. At the beginning of the heat period or hours after heat may lead to failure in conception

  • Polygyny

    In natural breeding using bulls, if one bull is used to inseminate many cows, that may lead to disease spread which can reduce chances to conceive.

  • Diseases

    The issues during calving such as pulling the calf out, absence of natural placental discharge, uterine prolapse, puss or swelling in the uterus, etc, can lead to diseases and repeat breeding.

  • Aberrations in hormonal production

    Deficiency or surplus in hormones such as Oestrogen, Progesterone, GnRH may block conception.

  • Other factors deficiency in micronutrients, lack of cleanliness in artificial insemination, quality of semen, environmental factors, etc, may affect conception.



Let us discuss how to identify repeat breed cows and management practices in the upcoming blogs.






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