Pregnancy Incidence in High Producing Dairy Cows Treated with Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin

¹ School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis 95616

Reproductive performance in cows exposed for two lactations to recombinant bST was measured using unconditional logistic regression. Intramuscular administration of 17.2, 51.6, and 86 mg of recombinant bST/d per cow started at d 70 postpartum and ended at dry-off or 305 d postpartum. Performance was measured as the cumulative incidence of cows becoming pregnant by 305 d postpartum. Within each parity group, cows treated with bST had higher total milk yield. During the first study lactation, the log odds of a cow becoming pregnant decreased linearly as dose increased, following adjustment for serum cholesterol, blood urea N, average daily milk yield, peak milk yield, net energy balance, and body condition score. However, differences in pregnancy incidence between treated and untreated cows were statistically significant only at the higher dose categories, the 51.6 and 86.0 mg of recombinant bST per cow. During the second study lactation, pregnancy rates were similar to those in the first lactation; rates reduced as recombinant bST dose increased. The singular exception was for cows exposed to recombinant bST during the previous lactation but not during the second. In the latter group, previously treated cows had higher pregnancy incidence than did the controls.

Key Words: reproduction • somatotropin • dairy • cow

Submitted on April 8, 1993
Accepted on August 27, 1993