Infertility in dairy cows: from father to daughter

(Image: Pixabay CC0) Declining fertility in dairy cows could be mitigated by taking into account the epigenetic profile of the "fathers" . Around the world, dairy cows are finding it increasingly difficult to "get pregnant". Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain this drop in fertility, but a team from Laval University has just identified a factor that has passed under the radar of most researchers until now. A cow's fertility may indirectly depend on factors linked to her "father's" health, diet and rearing conditions, suggests the study published by these researchers in the scientific journal Epigenetics . "Fertility is the ability to produce fertile oocytes. In cows, it is estimated from the number of conceptions per insemination. Over the past 20 years, the fertility rate has fallen from around 50% to 35% in Holstein cows", points out Marc-André Sirard, professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and researcher at the Centre de recherche en reproduction, développement et santé intergénérationnelle.