Luteal function, estrous response, and pregnancy rate after treatment with Norgestomet and various dosages of estradiol valerate in suckled cows.

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether dosage of estradiol valerate (EV) or day of estrous cycle when treatment was administered affected response to Syncro-Mate-B (SMB). Suckled beef cows received a 6-mg Norgestomet (NOR) ear implant (in situ 9 d) and a 3-mg NOR i.m. injection. In Exp. 1, 74 cows received NOR treatments concurrently with either 5 or 6 mg of EV administered i.m. on either d 1, 3, or 5 of an estrous cycle (estrus = d 1). In Exp. 2, 169 cows received NOR treatments concurrently with either 5, 7, or 9 mg of EV administered i.m. on either d 3 or 9 of an estrous cycle. In Exp. 1, 67, 50 and 92%, respectively, of cows receiving 5 mg of EV on d 1, 3, or 5 had functional corpora lutea (CL) at implant removal, whereas 42, 75, and 77%, respectively, of cows receiving 6 mg of EV had functional CL at implant removal (dosage P greater than .10; day P less than .05). Synchronized estrous responses were 50, 33, and 23%, respectively, when cows received 5 mg of EV on d 1, 3, or 5, and 67, 33, and 38%, respectively, when cows received 6 mg of EV (dosage P greater than .10; day P less than .05). First-service pregnancy rate was decreased (P less than .05) in cows treated on d 5 (33%) compared with cows treated on d 1 (63%), but dosage of EV had no effect on pregnancy rate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)