Improving fertility rates in cows through feed
Chris Casey
The Cattle Business Weekly
On a cellular level, it’s something like the line of scrimmage on a football field. A hormone rushes toward an embryo, but for completion to occur – in this case a pregnancy in a cow – the hormone must be blocked.
The blocker is a fatty acid found in fish.
Serving as coach, so to speak, in this biological blend of hooves and fins is a biology professor at the University of Northern Colorado. Pat Burns hopes his latest research not only improves bovine fertility – which could save millions for U.S. beef and milk producers – but also yields applications to human fertility and health.
He recently won a $98,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct a two-year study.