title: Methods for and Implementation of Pregnancy Diagnosis in Dairy Cows.
abstract: The first part of this article defines the attributes of the ideal pregnancy test and describes the direct and indirect methods for pregnancy diagnosis in dairy cows that are currently available that have the potential to replace transrectal palpation. Second, this new technology must be practically integrated into a systematic on-farm reproductive management strategy and empirically demonstrated to exceed the status quo of the industry in reproductive performance. Finally a future direction for research and technology in the area of early pregnancy diagnosis in dairy cows is presented, and the overall conclusions of the ideas presented herein are drawn.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1675 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA. Electronic address: pmfricke@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Fricke
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Science, University of Torino, Via Verdi, 8, Grugliasco 10090, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, 149 Morrison Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Julio O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.affiliation: Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1675 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Paulo D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D003612:Dairying; D005260:Female; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000662:veterinary*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011258:Pregnancy Tests / Q000662:veterinary*; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000662:veterinary; D014599:Uterus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
keywords: Pregnancy loss; Pregnancy-associated glycoproteins; Progesterone; Transrectal palpation; Transrectal ultrasonography