Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Preparations characterized by special physical form – Implant or insert
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-21
2004-10-19
Kennedy, Sharon (Department: 3762)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Preparations characterized by special physical form
Implant or insert
C128S833000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06805877
ABSTRACT:
RELATED APPLICATION
The present application claims priority from an application filed in Argentina on Oct. 24, 2001, under application number P 01 01 04978.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to devices and processes for estrus synchronization in an organism.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Beef Cattle
The productive cycle of a breeding cow can be divided in three periods:
a) Period of dry cow
b) Calving preparatory period
c) Calving and lactation
Every period has specific nutritional requirements and hormonal characteristics. The pregnancy of the animals involves a substantial cost since the requirements of the last month of gestation are higher than those applicable to a non-pregnant animal.
Besides, if calving is taken as Day 0 of the calendar year, the more synchronic the 0 Days of a herd, the better will the fodder supply adjust to the nutritional needs of the herd, thus improving the physiological needs of the cattle and at the same time addressing an economic issue.
Likewise, the post-calving anestrus period can be shortened allowing for the estrus to occur at the end of the puerperium period. In this way, animals can be served and fertilized quicker, improving not only the corporal condition of the herd and the pregnancy but also the health and welfare of calves because of a reduction of the mother's stress factors.
The advantages and benefits of a planned reproductive management program are known and can be generally stated as, which may or may not be effected in every planned reproductive management program:
1. Allows for planning of calving dates.
2. Improves the rotational grazing and ensures an efficient distribution of fodder to meet the physiological feeding needs of the cattle.
3. Facilitates the design of calving and service plots and optimizes the work of the personnel.
4. Decreases the number of bulls per herd, allowing for the investment in bulls with superior genetics and quality.
5. Improves the work with the calves, allowing for their distribution in homogenous groups.
6. Enhances the sustainability of the estrus system, thus avoiding dependence on natural periods.
7. Allows for a strategic supplementation management of the herd and optimizes supplemental doses.
8. Facilitates compliance with the vaccination program and improves its efficiency.
9. Shortens the service season and allows to produce one calf per cow served per year.
10. Facilitates the use of artificial insemination at a large scale, the application of an improved genetics and the practice of industrial cross-breeding.
11. Allows for a fixed-time artificial insemination process, without estrus detection.
12. Facilitates the control of returns to service.
13. Increases the fertility rate in heifers and allows for the insemination of a high number of animals per day.
14. Facilitates the insemination of animals with deficient estrus onset.
15. Facilitates the insemination of 15-month animals even when their luteus phases are not mature yet.
16. Facilitates the synchronization of receptors for embryo transfer.
17. Gives economic benefits.
Reproductive Efficiency of the Breeding Cattle
The productivity of the breeding cattle depends largely on its reproductive efficiency. The former is measured in terms of kilogram of calf per served cow while the latter is measured in terms of pregnancy rate or percentage. However, the most important parameter to individually evaluate the reproductive efficiency is the interval between calvings that, in economic terms, should not exceed the optimum period of 365 days, that is to say, a calf per cow per year. The main determining factor of the calving interval is the calving-conception interval that, considering a constant pregnancy period of 280 days, should not exceed 80-85 days, in most breeding facilities and most climates.
Some quantitative ratios between these parameters have been already established and the observations show that the pregnancy percentage falls linearly when the calving-estrus interval increases from 60 to 120 days. This calving-first estrus relationship shows that calf kilograms decrease considerably when such interval is extended and the loss amounts to 833 g per day.
Naturally, management decisions and procedures have some influence on the calving-conception interval but the latter is mainly determined by the following three factors:
1. The reestablishment of ovarian cycles after calving.
2. The occurrence of the estrus at the proper time of the cycle
3. The pregnancy rate after the service.
In this ratio, the pregnancy rate increases almost linearly when the estrus fertility increases. The slope depends on the calving-estrus interval, and it increases when this interval shortens.
When the calving-estrus interval is 60 days, a fertility increase, for example by reducing the services from three to two per served cow, results in a 16% increase in pregnancy percentages. The analysis of these quantitative ratios illustrates the impact of these parameters on the productivity of a breeding herd. Therefore, it is worth analyzing the way in which environmental factors influence the calving-conception interval.
Dairy Cattle
The benefits of a planned reproductive management in dairy cattle include the predetermination of the calving date and, therefore, of production; the possibility of facilitating the implementation of artificial insemination by reducing the estrus detection tasks and increasing the overall reproductive efficiency of the breeding operations.
The adoption of estrus cycle handling systems in dairy cows is increasingly important nowadays if we consider the need of streamlining the productive systems by improving production during the life of the animal and reducing the calving-conception intervals since this process results in an increase in the number of productive days of the animals. Given the fact that the grazing production systems of our country have a natural seasonality, cows must be fertilized at predetermined dates.
It has been said that the adoption of a scheduled reproductive management system improves the reproductive efficiency of the herds. Therefore, in various operations suitable parameters may include:
Parameters
Objectives
Calving interval
12.4-12.7 months < 13
Days of open cows
95-105 days
Lactation days (per herd)
155-165 days
% cows with over 150 days empty
<8%
Annual % of cows discarded due to infertility
<5%
Lactation days up to 1
st
service
60-65 days
% Estrus detected after 24 days
80-85%
% Empty at pregnancy test
<10%
% Conception after 1
st
service
>50%
Services per conception
<2.2
% Pregnant cows with 3 services or less
85-88%
% Cows returning after 4
th
service or more
<15%
Minimum calving-conception interval in the
<100
future
Out of all the abovementioned, the most frequently used parameters to evaluate the reproductive management programs are the days of open cows and the calving-conception interval. The former implies loss of income due to the fact that there are less lactation days and less calves per year. In normal cows, an open cow day consists of the physiological puerperium, that is to say the amount of days required for the first estrus to appear after calving, normally 10 days at least. This period, also called Voluntary Wait Period, cannot be substantially modified because it depends on physiological variables. The other components of these open cow days originate in estrus detection failures and conception failures and, in both cases, involve the addition of 21 days or more of the new estrus cycle to open cow days.
Therefore, a main reason to adopt a reproductive management program for dairy herds is the optimization of estrus detection and the improvement of conception rates.
Post-Calving Reproductive Management in Dairy Cows
During the post-calving period, dairy cows suffer an important change in their energy balance prior to the onset of the normal ovarian cycles. This negative energy balance is largely caused by the loss of energy resulting from l
Dvoskin Victor Oscar
Massara Julio Eduardo
Massara Nestor Gerardo
Elastecnica
Kennedy Sharon
Ramey III William P.
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