Termination of early pregnancy in ewes by use of a prostaglandin analogue and subsequent fertility.

Of 87 Dorset ewes injected at 20 to 60 days of pregnancy with either 125 micrograms or 250 micrograms of the prostaglandin F2 alpha analogue, cloprostenol, 72 (83%) were detected in oestrus by teaser rams within 7 days. A total of 60 ewes mated with fertile rams 14 to 28 days after treatment and 36 of these (60%) subsequently lambed. Thirty-eight ewes mated with fertile rams 29 to 56 days after treatment and 30 of these (79%) subsequently lambed. The difference in fertility between the 2 periods was not significant. Six additional ewes which did not respond to the cloprostenol lambed normally within 6 weeks. They were more than 100 days pregnant when treated. In ewes which first exhibited oestrus by 7 days of treatment, plasma progesterone concentrations fell from near 4 ng/ml to 0.6 ng/ml within 48 h of treatment. In ewes not detected in oestrus progesterone concentrations did not decrease to similar low levels (1.4 ng/ml; t-test p less than 0.005). Concentrations in the 6 ewes treated near 100 days of pregnancy dropped from 7.4 to 4.4 ng/ml over 48 h. Overall, the progesterone concentrations indicated that 92% of ewes treated at 20 to 60 days of pregnancy experienced rapid luteolysis in response to the cloprostenol. There were no differences between the 2 doses of cloprostenol in the responses or subsequent fertility of the ewes.