Use of milk progesterone RIA for the monitoring of artificial insemination of dairy cows on smallholder farms in Turkey

The technique of artificial insemination (Al) has been widely used in Turkey for several years to improve dairy cattle productivity. The fertility rate resulting from this technique is still low. The objective of this study was to identify causes of artificial insemination inefficiency on smallholder farms in Turkey. The radioimmunoassay (RIA) for progesterone in milk samples collected from dairy cows on smallholder farms have been used for monitoring ovarian activity, diagnosis of pregnancy and non-pregnancy, assessment of the accuracy of oestrus detection and for surveying efficiency of artificial insemination services. All raw data were stored and analyzed by the computer program AIDA (Artificial Insemination Database Application). Milk samples were collected on day 0, days 10-12, and days 22-24 after artificial insemination from 220 dairy cows in 10 different regions. Based on the progesterone concentration in three milk samples, the reproductive status of the cows could be identified. Conception rate at first service was 63.0% and overall conception rate was 70.4 %. The mean interval from calving to first service was 85.4 days and the mean interval from calving to conception was 96.1 days. The progesterone concentration on the day of Al was negatively related to conception (P<0.001) and also associated with season. Incidence of incorrect artificial insemination, most likely due to erroneous heat detection, was 11.5%. The results show that important factors affecting reproductive performance of dairy cows on smallholder farms include nutritional management, oestrus detection and season. The quality and efficiency of Al on smallholder dairy cows should be improved by using progesterone RIA. (author)