Labour Day Edition

Welcome to the Labour day edition of our monthly newsletter!

 

Unfortunately, we missed the August newsletter as we had a few changes in the office and busy season has extended 3 more months due to IVF collection on pregnant cows. Yes, BTL offers IVF and can collect oocytes from pregnant cows or heifers in the first 60 days to 125 days of pregnancy. Please reach out to us if IVF is of interest to you and you would like more information.  

The origins of Labour Day can be traced back to April 15, 1872, when the Toronto Trades Assembly organized Canada's first significant demonstration for worker's rights. The aim of the demonstration was to release the 24 leaders of the Toronto Typographical Union who were imprisoned for striking to campaign for a nine-hour working day. At this time, trade unions were still illegal and striking was seen as a criminal conspiracy to disrupt trade. In spite of this, the Toronto Trades Assembly was already a significant organization and encouraged workers to form trade unions, mediated in disputes between employers and employees and signaled the mistreatment of workers.

 

There was enormous public support for the parade and the authorities could no longer deny the important role that the trade unions had to play in the emerging Canadian society. A few months later, a similar parade was organized in Ottawa and passed the house of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John Macdonald. Later in the day, he appeared before the gathering and promised to repeal all Canadian laws against trade unions. This happened in the same year and eventually led to the founding of the Canadian Labour Congress in 1883.

 

Labour Day was originally celebrated in the spring but it was moved to the fall after 1894. As we all well know, for cattle producers and farmers, labour day is just another day filled with farm chores, but we do hope you can squeeze a family BBQ in! Our office will be closed in observance of the labour day holiday. 

In July we welcomed Andreanne Descoteaux St-Jean to the team. Andreanne is a passionate animal health technician with 8 years of experience in bovine reproduction.

 

Andreanne (you can also call her Dee-Dee or Andi) joins us from Boviteq after enjoying 8 years performing OPU collections for In-Vitro Fertilization in Quebec and California.

Dominant Follicles & Follicular Ablation

Reproductive failure is a major source of economic loss in the beef industry. The majority of this loss occurs because cows do not become pregnant during a defined breeding season. You can give cows an additional chance to become pregnant during a defined breeding season by using estrous synchronization.

 

Synchronizing estrus is simply manipulating the bovine estrous cycle to cause the majority of cows to show standing estrus around the same time. Because a cow’s estrous cycle is 21 days, she only has one chance to become pregnant every 21 days of the breeding season (three chances during a 66-day breeding season). However, cows that are synchronized to cycle at the start of the breeding season have an additional opportunity (four chances) to become pregnant during that same 66-day breeding season.

 

Estrous synchronization also can decrease the labor associated with artificial insemination (AI) and can increase the proportion of cows that become pregnant early in the breeding season, resulting in more calves born earlier in the calving season and heavier weaning weights. Some estrous synchronization protocols have the ability to induce cows to initiate estrous cycles and shorten the anestrous postpartum interval. Additionally, certain synchronization protocols allow for timed insemination to decrease or eliminate the need for estrus detection.

Before we dive into the details of follicular ablation, also called dominant follicle removal (DFR), let's begin with what an ovarian follicle is. The ovaries are the primary organs in a cow’s reproductive tract. They have two functions: produce oocytes (eggs) and produce hormones, estrogen and progesterone, throughout the stages of the estrus cycle. Ovarian follicles are small, fluid-filled sacs in the ovaries that each contain an unfertilized egg. Although millions of oocytes are formed during embryo and fetal development in the cow, only a small fraction of these will form a developmentally competent oocyte and be fertilized.

 

Oocytes in cattle are formed during embryogenesis and develop within individual follicles in the cortex of the ovary. Dormant primordial follicles become active and undergo progressive development at regular intervals commencing during the late fetal stage and continuing throughout adulthood. Once activated, follicles and oocytes in a cohort either grow to maturation and ovulation or undergo atresia, ultimately depleting the ovaries of germ cells. It takes an estimated 100 days for a follicle and its oocyte to reach the mature ovulatory stage.

 

Emergence of a follicular wave is stimulated by an FSH surge. The surge reaches a peak by the time the follicles attain 4 mm in diameter, all of the growing follicles >/=5 mm contribute to the decline in FSH concentrations. The declining FSH concentrations are still needed by the growing follicles. Several days after the peak of the FSH surge and emergence of the wave, the two largest follicles reach means of 8.5 and 7.7 mm. At this approximate time, the follicles begin to undergo deviation in follicle diameters, which is characterized by continued growth of the largest follicle to become the dominant follicle and reduced or terminated growth of the remaining follicles to become subordinate follicles. On average, the future dominant follicle emerges before the future largest subordinate follicle, and the two follicles grow in parallel until deviation.

 

A single follicle is selected and becomes a dominant follicle, suppressing the growth of other medium follicles. During the estrous cycle, there are recurrent periods of turnover of dominant follicles culminating in the final maturation and ovulation of the dominant follicle that is present at the time of luteolysis. The dominant follicle continues to grow and differentiate, whereas its sister subordinate follicles plateau in growth and then regress. The dominant follicle of the first wave in two-wave cycles and of the first and second waves in three-wave cycles regresses. The formation of a dominant follicle can be referred to as ovulation. The dominant follicle has the quickest growth and largest size. However, the growth of a follicle does not always mean that it contains a mature egg.

What is follicular ablation and why do we perform this procedure?

Follicle ablation improves the ovarian response and the number of collected embryos in superovulated cows. Follicle ablation also offers the advantage of initiating superstimulatory treatment immediately and ensuring that treatment coincides with the time of follicular wave emergence so that an optimal superovulatory response can be achieved.

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A transvaginal ultrasound guided follicular aspiration of the dominant follicle technique was developed for the repeated collection of bovine oocytes from natural cycling cows. In addition, the feasibility of using this method for collecting immature oocytes for in vitro embryo production. BTL results have shown that follicle ablation is more effective than estradiol plus progesterone in synchronizing follicular wave emergence for superstimulation in cattle, and that ablation of the 2 largest follicles is as efficacious as ablating all follicles ≥ 5mm.

 

If you have any questions about our newsletter content regarding ablation of dominant follicles, IVF or In-Vivo procedures, please do not hesitate to ask us.

 

Wishing you a great September!

FEATURED MATING

 

Looking to improve your herd's genetics?  Check out this exciting Featured Mating; Sexed Female IVF Embryos from Coleman Donna 2301 x SAV Resource 1441.  Click the link below to view our complete online embryo catalogue. 

 

Email us at info@bova-tech.com or call 403-332-1567 for price and availability. 

 

 
BTL Catalogue

At Bova-Tech Ltd. we offer services that will help to increase your herd’s productivity and value. Producers depend on us to optimize their most valuable cows by generating more embryos and pregnancies that will extend the impact of outstanding cattle genetics. Our programs are designed to meet producer’s specific needs, offering all our services either in-clinic or on-farm.

Email Us
42128 Township Rd 272, Rocky View County, Alberta, Canada
403-332-1567

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