Preliminary results from this experiment indicated that fishmeal supplementation may be an effective way to increase conception rates in lactating beef cows. Beef Cows, Fishmeal, Fertility Introduction Early embryonic mortality continues to be a major problem in animal agriculture. In the pregnant cow, the embryo produces a compound known as interferon t that blocks the release of PGF 2 a from the uterus so that corpus luteum can continue to produce progesterone and pregnancy can be established. However, pregnancy rates are not improved. Therefore, new ways must be developed to manipulate endogenous release of uterine PGF 2 a in order to more effectively increase pregnancy rates in cattle.
Dairymen often supplement dairy cows with fat to increase energy, dry matter intake and milk yield.
Fishmeal contains omega-3 fatty acids, which may be responsible for the increase in fertility. The objective of this experiment was to determine if fishmeal supplementation would increase first service pregnancy rates in primiparous lactating beef cows. Forty lactating first-calf beef cows were used to determine the effects of fishmeal supplementation on first service conception rates. Cows were weighed and body condition scored on a 1 to 9 scale as described by Richards et al. Animals were then stratified by body weight, body condition score, and calving date and randomly assigned to one of eight pens.