Long- term comparison between effects of an herbal and an antibiotic intrauterine treatment of clinical endometritis on reproductive performance, milk production and culling rate in dairy cows

Summary

The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of an intrauterine antibiotic treatment (Metricure®, CEPH) and an intrauterine herbal treatment (EucaComp®PlantaVet, EUC) on reproductive performance in dairy cows diagnosed with clinical endometritis (CE) between 21 and 35 days post partum (p.p.). Cows with CE were assigned randomly to receive 19 g of CEPH (n = 73) or 25 ml of undiluted EUC (n = 67). The reproductive performance of 140 cows from 27 farms was monitored from 24 days after the first treatment until the next calving or until the culling date. Linear mixed effect models were used to calculate the effect of treatment, lactation number, severity of CE, and the interaction between treatment group and severity of CE on fertility parameters. No significant differences between treatment groups were found regarding the first service conception rate, the calving to conception interval for cows pregnant at 120 days p.p., the number of inseminations per calving, the pregnancy rate at 120 days p.p., the intercalving period and the overall calving rate (including culling reasons), the proportion of cows receiving hormonal gynaecological treatments 24 days after the first treatment and the proportion of cows receiving intrauterine antibiotic treatments 24 days after the first treatment. There was a trend (p = 0.063) for a slightly longer first service period in the treatment group for CEPH (80 days postpartum (p.p.)) compared to EUC (74 days p.p.). In conclusion, these results show no difference in reproductive performance in cows with clinical endometritis treated with EUC or CEPH.