Interpretive Summary: Short Communication: Influence of estrus activity and reproductive tract size and position scores on fertility in Bos indicus and Bos taurus suckled beef cows 

By: Savannah L Speckhart, Ramiro V Oliveira Filho, Gessica A Franco, Jose L M Vasconcelos, F Neal Schrick, J Lannett Edwards, Ky G Pohler

The livelihood of a cow-calf producer relies on reproductively sound cattle that give birth to live offspring once a year. Two factors, pregnancy rate and pregnancy loss, are informative measures of fertility. Herein, the authors identified that pregnancy rates are interactively influenced by estrus activity and reproductive tract size and position scores. Specifically, cows with smaller reproductive tracts that exhibited estrus activity had greatest pregnancy rates. Neither estrus activity, reproductive tract size and position score, nor their interaction were associated with pregnancy loss.

Read the full article on the Journal of Animal Science.