Story courtesy of BioTracking, Illustration by Ray Merritt

A two-day retreat to learn more about how BioPRYN, a pregnancy test for cattle and other species, fits into modern management of dairy and beef reproductive programs was hosted by BioTracking, LLC, from July 16 to 18 in Spokane, Washington.

Among the 61 attendees were personnel from nine of the company’s 20 affiliate labs located across the U.S. and the world, as well as university dairy researchers and extension personnel.
The main purposes of the retreat were to connect peers who are running the pregnancy test, examine the future of pregnancy testing and share ideas and learn what affiliate labs are doing to improve testing.

Retreat presentations and highlights
Dr. Mike O’Connor of Penn State University made the following points:

• Adoption of synchronization/timed breeding programs is increasing.

• Days to first service decreased six days from 2001-2005, according to research presented by Dr. Duane Norman from the USDA Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory at the 2008 ADSA meetings.

• Herds using synchronization protocols average 17 fewer days open.

• Herds employing timed A.I. programs have 17 fewer days to first service.

The value of knowing pregnancy confirmation earlier and the cost of losing time before rebreeding were both discussed by Dr. David Galligan of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. He summarized with three points of early pregnancy testing:

1. Finding open cows early is essential.

2. The value of the information is dependent on how soon re-insemination occurs.

3. There is a need to follow-up a pregnancy check because of embryo loss. PD

—Submitted by BioTracking

Dr. Michael O’Connor (center) and BioTracking affiliate lab operators Dave Zimmerman (left) and Ken Grube of New Holland, Pennsylvania, talk during a conference break. Photo courtesy of BioTracking.