Categorization of anestrus in bovines belonging to marginal dairy farmers of Malwa region of Punjab

Abstract

A field-oriented study was conducted to have an insight of various etiological factors of anestrus and their occurrence in
cattle and buffalo of Malwa region of Punjab. A total of I 16 animals (Cattle-58; Buffalo-58) with the history of anestrus were
subjected to gynaecological examination and diagnosis was made on the basis of history, clinical signs, rectal findings, body condition
scores (BCS) and plasma progesterone profiles. Repeated clinico-gynaecological examinations were made and plasma samples taken
at 3-5 days interval for 21 days. Out of the total 58 cows presented, 37 (63.79%) were in true anestrus, 6 (10.34%) in subestnJs, I
(1.72%) had persistent corpus luteurn and 14 (24.13%) were found pregnant, whereas the number of buffaloes in the respective
categories were 12 (20.69%), 15 (25.86%), 2 (3.45%) and 29 (50.00%). The higher number of buffaloes diagnosed to have subestrus
reflects the inadequacy of farming community to detect estrus properly as they consider the vocalization as sole criteria of estrus.
Also the percentage of animals (both cattle and buffalo) diagnosed as pregnant (although presented to be of anestrus) point toward$
the poor managerial skills of the farmers. Most of cows [20/37 (54.05%)] and buffaloes [10/12 (83.33%)) in true anestrus were
postpubertal heifers having a BCS ranging from 2.0-2.5.