Editorial Type:
Food Animal Economics

Financial comparison of three testing strategies for detection of estrus in dairy cattle

Hussni O. Mohammed From the Department of Clinical Sciences, New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (Mohammed), and the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (Loefler, Shearer).

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 BVSc, MVSc, PhD
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S. Loefler From the Department of Clinical Sciences, New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (Mohammed), and the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (Loefler, Shearer).

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J. Shearer From the Department of Clinical Sciences, New York State College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 (Mohammed), and the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610 (Loefler, Shearer).

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Summary

Three commercial tests that measure progesterone content in milk were evaluated for accuracy of estrus detection. The tests were evaluated on 96 milk samples collected from Holstein cows at a commercial dairy farm in central Florida. The test results were compared with the results of radioimmunoassay on the same sample. Comparisons were made by calculating the sensitivities, specificities, and predictive values. The significance of the statistical association between the tests and the radioimmunoassay was evaluated by use of the McNemar χ2 test. Decision-tree analysis was used to determine the most useful testing strategy, considering both cost and accuracy. The cowside progesterone assay on estrus-mount detector-positive cows was more profitable than use of estrus-mount patches alone. The return on investment was higher with the cowside test, making it preferred as a field test for detecting estrus.

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Cover Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
Issue:
15 Mar 1990
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