title: Prevention of the retained fetal membrane syndrome (retained placenta) during induced calving in dairy cattle.
abstract: Sixty-six dairy cattle were induced to calve with dexamethasone treatment at 5 d prior to expected time of calving. Each animal was assigned randomly to one of two treatments, saline (2 ml) or PGF(2)alpha (10 mg), which were administered within 1 h postpartum. With the saline treatment, 90.5 % of the animals had placental retention, whereas only 8.8 % of the PGF(2)alpha-treated animals had placental retention. The PGF(2)alpha-treated cows released the fetal membranes in 7.4 +/- 1.35 h postpartum, whereas the saline-treated cows released the membranes in 98.3 +/- 10.93 h postpartum. These data demonstrate that treatment with PGF(2)alpha within the immediate postpartum period is effective (P < 0.001) in the prevention of placental retention in the dairy cow induced to calve with dexamethasone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences. University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 USA.
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Moreland