Is your cow struggling to conceive?

Sometimes as a veterinarian, you come across a case in a dairy animal where the blame lies squarely with the farmer.

At first, when you tell the farmer the bitter truth, they may not like the tongue-lash but on taking your instructions and seeing the change, they will happily call you to say a big ‘thank you’.

I got such a call sometime back from a farmer I had told some hard truth — that his actions were to blame for his heifer’s infertility.

After following my instructions on the way forward, Mr Dennis, a young farmer in Ruiru, called to announce the good news — that his cow had finally conceived.

I met Dennis, early in my professional life during a farmer’s field day. They had attended the field day thanks to their high school 4-K Club and he was inquisitive about dairy farming.

At the end of our discussion I gave him my business card and it wasn’t until late last year that he called me.

He informed me that after sitting his Form Four exams he did menial jobs to raise capital and with some boost from his mother he had acquired a Friesian cross heifer.

His problem was that the cow repeatedly exhibited signs of heat even after being served.

Dennis wasn’t happy; he had incurred costs and was thinking of culling the animal.

Infertility is expensive

I reassured him that I will visit his farm to see what the problem was.

Indeed infertility causes loss of time as it increases inter-calving interval and a farmer has to bear extra costs from repeated inseminations.

When I visited the farm, I found the animal in good body condition, the dairy unit was well done and the feeding regime looked fine.

I asked about who did the Artificial Insemination (AI) and records showed a hardworking vet colleague with a known track record.

Therefore I was sure the vet had used quality semen.

Causes of infertility

But sometimes vet practitioners upon widening their customer base engage a helping hand, again I convinced myself that they know how to select the best.

So, after doing that elimination, I wondered, what could the problem be?

I prodded Dennis further on mineral supplementation and there lay the diagnosis of the problem.

Dennis had been using some unknown brand of mineral salts sold in the open market as mineral supplements.

But like all young farmers, Dennis defended his choice. “They are cheap and my friend has used them without any problem.”

I knew the problem must be mineral supplementation. There is always that temptation to go for the cheap, but what many farmers do not realise is that in the long run it leads to hefty avoidable costs.

I advised Dennis to use known brands of mineral supplement. He did that and it didn’t take long before he called back with the good news — the heifer was expectant.

Simple remedies

There are many causes of infertility in cows; ranging from poor handling of semen by the inseminators, anatomical deformities, diseases of reproduction tract, nutritional imbalances or bull infertility (where bulls are used) and a farmer not being observant of the heat signs where A.I is used.

Under nutritional imbalances, vitamins and mineral deficiency are the commonest causes of infertility. Vitamins are readily available in natural fresh feeds and are manufactured by rumen and tissues.

Poor storage – high temperatures or prolonged storage can however lower the content of vitamins and thus result in deficiency that can affect reproduction.

Vitamin A, D and E are vital in maintaining the fertility of cows. But it must be noted that forage legumes contain chemicals that can also lower fertility.

Feeding cows for prolonged periods on clover, lucerne (alfalfa) at breeding stages can lower fertility.

Mineral deficiency remains the most frequent nutritional cause of infertility in cows. Calcium, phosphorous, selenium, copper, manganese, cobalt, iron, Iodine, Sodium and Chloride. It is very important to note that these minerals interact in both advantageous and disadvantageous ways depending on the ratios of their composition; their absorption can also affect or be affected by vitamins. It is therefore advised that you only use mineral supplements from known companies that have taken this precaution in the constitution of the mineral licks.

The writer is the Vet of the Year Award (VOYA) winner 2016; he works with the Kenya Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Council –KENTTEC

Send your livestock related questions to jothieno43@yahoo.com