The effects of bull urine on puberty and calving date in crossbred beef heifers.
The effects of bull urine on the percentage of heifers reaching puberty and on subsequent calving dates were examined with 52 crossbred beef heifers. Heifers were palpated for ovarian condition and classified as prepubertal or pubertal before (Palpation I) and after (Palpation II) eight weekly oronasal treatments with bull urine or water. A larger percentage of urine-treated than water-treated heifers reached puberty during the experimental period (67 vs 32%; P less than .05), supporting the hypothesis that bull urine contains a priming pheromone. Body weight of urine-treated heifers that did not reach puberty by Palpation II was lower than that of water-treated heifers that did not reach puberty (P less than .05), indicating that an association exists between body weight and the response to pheromonal cues in bull urine. There were no treatment differences in pregnancy rate after a 90-d breeding period, and no differences in pregnancy rate between heifers that had reached puberty before the breeding season started and heifers that had not reached puberty. Urine-treated heifers reaching puberty during the experiment calved earlier (P less than .05) in the calving season than did water-treated heifers of the same category. The distribution of these calvings was also different (P less than .01), resulting in a shorter calving season for urine-treated heifers. More heifers that had reached puberty by Palpation II calved in the first 20 d of the calving season that did heifers that had not reached puberty by Palpation II, regardless of treatment group (P = .02). There was a tendency for urine-treated heifers to calve earlier than water-treated heifers, with the exception of urine-treated heifers that had not reached puberty by Palpation II. These data support the hypothesis that there is a priming pheromone in bull urine that can hasten the onset of puberty in beef heifers.
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010173:Palpation / Q000662:veterinary; D010675:Pheromones / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal; D011374:Progesterone / Q000097:blood; D012098:Reproduction; D012621:Seasons; D012741:Sexual Maturation / Q000187:drug effects*; D014556:Urine
D010675:Pheromones; D011374:Progesterone