Early diagnosis of pregnancy is of great importance in modern animal industry due to the high cost of feed and labor, as well as to realize the maximum life-time production of dairy cows. Especially after artificial insemination is widely used, the earlier the pregnancy is determined, the earlier feeding plans will be performed. Dairy cows need to become pregnant after insemination, carry the conceptus till term, deliver healthy calves and produce milk regularly in order to make dairy farming economically viable and profitable. The general methodology to determine bovine pregnancy is by observation or B-mode ultrasound scanners, either of which is not quite economic in small or middle size farms.
Gestation length ranges from 279 to 287 days. For most breeds, 283 days would be common. Cows carrying bull calves tend to have a slightly longer gestation compared to cows carrying heifer calves. To monitor the pregnancy status, pregnancy associated glycoproteins are widely used as marker protein.
The current bovine pregnancy rapid test kit utilizes the high affinity of monoclonal antibody against the pregnancy associated glycoproteins in bovine whole blood, plasma and serum, which can easily identify the concentration and presence of it. If the concentration is above certain number, the cow will be pregnant and if not, the cow will not be pregnant. Further measurements such as breeding, or AI shall be performed.
Key facts of the bovine pregnancy rapid test kit
- Ready to use kits for farmers, truck drivers, etc
- Non-incubation required
- Result visible in 15min
Technical detailsof this bovine pregnancy rapid test kit
| Product Code | C20014 / 200014 / 200034 / 200044 |
|---|---|
| Description | Bovine Pregnancy Rapid Test Kit, Cow Pregnancy Rapid Test Kit |
| Unit Size | 25 tests |
| Applications | On farm testing of pregnancy in Whole blood, Plasma, Serum |
| Species | Bovine, cattle, cow |
| Storage | Store 2-30 oC in dry and dark place. Do not freeze. Avoid direct sunlight. |
| Sensitivity | 98.3% |
| Specificity | 99.5% or above, according to a latest internal validation compared with ultrasound scanners. On day 28, 32-34, 40 and later post AI, this kit can identify all open cows accurately. |
| Stability | Up to 18 months when stored properly. |
Application of the bovine pregnancy rapid test kit
This kit shall be used to test cattle whole blood, plasma and serum, which shall be collected within as early as 28days post AI. Milk sample has not been validated, if you need such applications, please feel free to contact us.
Bovine pregnancy rapid test kit components
- Bovine Pregnancy Rapid Test Cards, 25tests
- Plastic Pipette, 25 pcs
- Sample buffer, 25 pcs
- Disposable lancet, 25 pcs (optional)
- Blood collection tube, 25 pcs (optional)
How to do blood collection from cow tail vein?
In fact, there are many tutorial videos on YouTube, here we list some for your reference.
- Bovine Procedures 11: Bovine tail bleeding for blood collection - YouTube
- How to get a blood sample from tail head neck - YouTube
- How to draw blood from the tail of cattle - YouTube
Bovine pregnancy test kit training video
Blood Collection with EDTA tube and needle.
Further information
- Beef Cow Pregnancy Examination - Alabama Cooperative Extension System (aces.edu)
- Pregnant cows, timing of pregnancy, open cows, pregnancy rate | UNL Beef
- Lavon, Y., Friedman, S., Shwimmer, A., & Falk, R. (2022). Performing Early Pregnancy Tests in Milk and Their Effect on Cow Welfare and Reproductive Performance Compared to Rectal Pregnancy Tests 40 to 45 Days Post Insemination. Dairy, 3(3), 465-473.
- C de Miranda e Silva Chaves, C., da Costa, R. L. D., Duarte, K. M. R., Beltrame, R. T., & Quirino, C. R. (2020). Evaluation of a cattle rapid test for early pregnancy diagnosis in sheep. Tropical animal health and production, 52(3), 1345-1349.
- Rashmi, S., Sahadev, A., Swamy, M. N., Ravindranath, B. M., Santhosh, C. R., Kumar, S. N., & Nagaraja, B. N. (2020). Comparative evaluation of early pregnancy diagnostic methods in dairy cows. Int J Livest Res, 10(5), 71-77.
Frequently asked questions
Cow early pregnancy diagnosis is important for several reasons:
- It can help measure the success of a reproductive management program and detect any problems that may affect fertility.
- It can reduce the number of unnecessary inseminations of pregnant cows and avoid embryonic losses.
- It can allow for early resynchronization of non-pregnant cows and shorten the interval between AI services.
- It can provide an estimation of the cow’s calving date and facilitate culling decisions.
- It can improve reproductive efficiency and profitability on commercial dairy farms.
There are different methods to prepare serum from blood in cows. Here are some recommendations:
- Sanitize the tail or skin with an alcohol pad. Then use the lancet to bleed.
- Collect whole blood in a covered test tube or blood collection tube with EDTA. For cows, we usually collect blood from veins in tails. Use a sterile syringe is also ok if there is not vacuum blood tubes available.
- When using the syringe, blood samples shall be kept for 10-30min at room temperature and let it clot. Then, remove the clot by centrifuging at 1,000–2,000 x g for 10 minutes in a centrifuge. In practice, we use a small palm centrifuge to do it, which is economic and simple to operate.
- When using a vacuum blood tube with anticoagulant, we just need to centrifuge the tube for 10 minutes at 1,000–2,000 x g to separate the cells from the plasma.
The current Ringbio bovine pregnancy rapid test kit utilizes the high affinity of monoclonal antibody against the pregnancy associated glycoproteins in bovine whole blood, plasma and serum, which can easily identify the concentration and presence of it. If the concentration is above certain number, the cow will be pregnant and if not, the cow will not be pregnant. Further measurements such as breeding or AI shall be performed.
Bovine pregnancy associated glycoprotein (boPAG) is a term that refers to a group of proteins that are expressed by the trophoblast cells in the bovine placenta. They belong to the family of aspartic proteases and have different functions during pregnancy. They can also be detected in maternal blood and milk, which makes them useful for pregnancy diagnosis in cattle. Some of the boPAGs are specific to cattle, while others are shared with other ruminants. The boPAG gene family is composed of at least 22 transcribed genes and 14 pseudogenes.
According to public literatures, boPAG can be used as a reliable pregnancy marker in serum and milk, applicable as early as approximately day 25 post breeding. Thus, the detection of boPAG in whole blood, plasma, serum or milk is an alternative method to transrectal ultrasonography or progesterone assays. However, some factors such as breed, parity, stage of gestation and sampling time may affect the accuracy of boPAG testing. Thus, boPAG rapid test is always used for 28 days post AI. There are several commercial products available in the market and Ringbio cow pregnancy test kit is one example.
