TRIENNIAL REPRODUCTION SYMPOSIUM: The obstacle course to successful establishment of pregnancy in domestic livestock species

The 2012 Triennial Reproduction Symposium (TRS), "Impediments to Fertility in Domestic Animals," was held immediately before the Joint Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science, American Dairy Science Association, Canadian Society of Animal Science, Western Section of the American Society of Animal Science, and the Asociacion Mexicana de Produccion Animal in Phoenix, AZ, in July, 2012. The theme of the symposium highlighted key impediments or opportunities in the process of creating a pregnancy, beginning with male and female gametes and ending with a viable fetus. The 2012 TRS was designed to focus on areas of current and exciting investigation across a variety of species and to include 8 presentations from a mix of established and early-career scientists. The TRS was also the venue for presentation of the 2012 L. E. Casida Award for Graduate Education; the recipient was R. D. Randel (Texas A&M University). The symposium provided an excellent opportunity for reproductive biologists to consider the broad spectrum of factors that limit fertility in domestic species and contemplate the current status of knowledge relative to several of the significant obstacles to pregnancy.