Artificial insemination (AI) is a process by which sperm are collected from the male, processed, stored and artificially introduced into the female reproductive tract for the purpose of conception. AI has become one of the most important techniques ever devised for the genetic improvement of farm animals. It has been most widely used for breeding dairy cattle and has made bulls of high genetic merit available to all.
Our objective was to determine the effectiveness of exogenous progesterone in the form of an intravaginal insert (controlled internal drug release, CIDR) in conjunction with an ovulation-synchronization protocol in lactating dairy cows. Cows received a Presynch protocol (two injections of prostaglandin F2α [PGF2α] 14 days apart) beginning 30 and 36 days in milk, respectively, in two herds.
Factors governing reduced reproductive performance in dairy cattle are numerous and often difficult to diagnose. In general, those factors resulting from fertilization failure (e.g., semen handling and AI techniques) are more easily resolved by technician retraining than those related to early embryonic death.
