Evaluación del mantenimiento de la gestación en un sistema bovino lechero a pastoreo en la región andina del Ecuador

Abstract

The maintenance of pregnancy in a dairy cattle system in the Andean region of Ecuador was analyzed. The systematized information of the reproductive veterinary events corresponding to pregnancy losses was used, systematized in the SG Livestock Software Version 23® of the Santa Catalina Dairy Unit of the National Institute of Agricultural Research, registered from 2010 to 2022. It was carried out a quantification through the use of actuarial life tables, numbering the pregnancies, losses of the PDG pregnancy, survival of the pregnancy and period of risk of PDG. As results, a total of 1194 pregnancies were obtained, of which there was a PDG of 16% (188 cases). The percentage of survival of the fetuses decreased as the pregnancy status of the cows progressed, reaching less than 85% survival in gestations greater than 260 days. A high risk of abortion was calculated for the gestation period between 43 and 120 days, as well as for the peripartum gestation period >260 days. These data can be used as a starting point to develop a period of epidemiological surveillance of pregnancy with a higher incidence of abortion, denoting the importance of the systematization of information and the use of livestock records. The data will be used to optimize and improve the profitability of the dairy farm, being able to establish plans that improve the conditions that guarantee the survival of the fetuses until their birth. Finally, it aims to study in the medium and short term the possible risk factors that affect the maintenance of pregnancy.