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Detection of a cow's pregnancy early in pregnancy is the key to successful gestation throughout the entire period. This allows you to provide the animal with the necessary care in a timely manner and create favorable conditions for the birth of healthy offspring. Now there are different ways to determine the pregnancy of a cow from milk, both at home and in the laboratory.
How to check a cow's pregnancy using milk using traditional methods
You can determine if an animal is pregnant with a simple test at home. The main sign of pregnancy is a change in the taste of milk, but not every novice breeder will be able to determine this difference. Therefore, you should not trust purely taste buds.
Common folk methods of checking a cow for pregnancy using milk in the early stages.
First way:
- After 40-50 days after the last insemination, you need to take 30-50 ml of milk, but not from the first and last stream during milking.
- The liquid should sit for 0.5-3 hours at room temperature.
- Separately, pour boiled water, heated to 40 degrees, into a glass glass to fill 4/5 of the entire volume.
- Let it sit for a while so that possible impurities sink to the bottom.
- Using a pipette, drop 9-10 drops of selected milk onto the surface of the water from a height of less than 5 cm.
- If the cow is not pregnant, then the milk will quickly dissolve in water within 5 minutes. the liquid will acquire a uniform white tint.
- If the mating is successful, the milk drops will settle to the bottom of the glass in wavy circles and will only mix with the water over time.
Second way:
- Pour fresh milk and pure medical alcohol into a transparent flask, combining the components in equal quantities.
- Shake the container well.
- A dairy product taken from a pregnant cow will curdle within 3-5 minutes, and in the absence of pregnancy this will happen in 20-40 minutes.
The accuracy of this method, according to experienced livestock breeders, is 70-75%.
At home, determining pregnancy using milk (a video on this topic can be found at the end of the article) does not require the use of special devices, but it does not provide a 100% guarantee. Therefore, each livestock breeder decides for himself whether to use traditional methods or trust professional analysis.
How to find out if a cow is pregnant by looking at milk in the laboratory
A more accurate test for the pregnancy of a cow using milk can be carried out in the laboratory. This method allows you to quickly determine pregnancy on the 19-21st day after the last estrus based on the level of steroid hormone in the animal’s milk with an accuracy of 97%.
Progesterone levels have the ability to change cyclically. During the period of ovulation, that is, at the beginning of the sexual cycle, its concentration in cow's milk is within 2 ng/ml.In subsequent days, this figure constantly increases and on days 13-15 reaches 10-20 ng/ml.
Based on this, pregnancy can be detected on the 19-21st day after mating with maximum accuracy. The concentration of progesterone in milk can be used to judge the condition of the cow:
- less than 4 ng/ml – non-pregnant;
- 4-7 ng/ml – the probability is doubtful;
- more than 7 ng/ml – pregnancy has occurred.
To determine pregnancy, it is enough to collect 1.5 ml of milk into prepared test tubes at the last stage of milking. The duration of the analysis is 30 minutes, excluding equipment preparation.
This method has gained wide recognition throughout the world, as it is simple to perform and does not require highly qualified laboratory technicians. But special equipment is needed to carry it out.
The main advantages of enzyme immunoassay of milk:
- helps to quickly identify unbreeding cows and return them to reproduction;
- eliminates animal stress compared to other common diagnostic methods;
- reduces the likelihood of re-breeding of inseminated cows that show signs of false heat.
The ELISA method detects a cow's pregnancy 40-70 days earlier than a rectal examination, and 10-15 days earlier than the ultrasound method using a special sensor. This allows you to significantly reduce the period of useless waiting.
Conclusion
The use of any of the proposed methods allows you to determine the pregnancy of a cow based on milk, but which one to choose is up to each owner to decide for himself.Early detection of pregnancy is extremely important for producing healthy offspring. Indeed, during this period the animal needs special conditions of maintenance and nutrition, since only in this case can one count on a positive result.
