Assessment of an accelerometer system for detection of estrus and treatment with gonadotropin-releasing hormone at the time of insemination in lactating dairy cows

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate an accelerometer system (Heatime; SCR Engineers Ltd., Netanya, Israel) to manage reproduction in lactating dairy cows. In experiment 1, lactating Holstein cows (n = 112) were fitted with an accelerometer system and were treated with GnRH followed 7 d later by PGF(2 alpha) to synchronize estrus. A total of 89 cows that had a follicle >10 mm in diameter and a functional corpus luteum at the PGF(2 alpha) injection that regressed by 48 h after induction of luteolysis were included in the analysis. Overall, 71% of cows were detected in estrus by the accelerometer system and 95% of cows showing estrus ovulated within 7 d after induction of luteolysis. Of the cows not detected in estrus by the accelerometer system, 35% ovulated within 7 d after induction of luteolysis. Duration of estrus activity (mean +/- SD) was 16.1 +/- 4.7 h and was neither affected by parity nor milk production. Intervals (means SD) from induction of luteolysis, onset of activity, peak raw activity, and peak weighted activity to ovulation was 82.2 +/- 9.5, 28.7 +/- 8.1, 20.4 +/- 7.8, and 16.4 +/- 7.4 h, respectively, and the interval from AI to ovulation was 7.9 +/- 8.7 h, but ranged from -12 to 26 h. In experiment 2, cows were assigned randomly to receive an intramuscular injection of GnRH at artificial insemination (AI) after detection of estrus by the accelerometer system or receive no treatment (control). Nine hundred seventy-nine AT services from 461 cows were analyzed. Treatment with GnRH at AT did not affect fertility at 35 or 65 d after AI, and no interaction was detected between treatment and season or treatment and AI number. Overall, two-thirds of the cows that were considered properly synchronized were inseminated based on the accelerometer system and ovulated after AI. The remaining cows either were not inseminated because they were not detected in estrus or would not have had a chance to conceive to AI because they failed to ovulate after estrus. Furthermore, mean time of AT in relation to ovulation determined by the accelerometer system was acceptable for most of the cows that displayed estrus; however, variability in the duration of estrus and timing of AI in relation to ovulation could lead to poor fertility in some cows. For lactating dairy cows detected in estrus by the accelerometer system, treatment with GnRH at the time of AT without reference to the onset of estrus did not increase fertility.