Practical Aspects of Twin Pregnancy Diagnosis in Cattle

SIMPLE SUMMARY: This review summarizes the clinical background, possibilities, and limitations of twin pregnancy diagnosis in cattle, with a special emphasis on pregnancy loss aspects. Due to the fact that reproductive performance is strongly affected by twin pregnancy, clinical veterinarians should become familiar with the correct diagnosis of this phenomenon. Thus, each herd must plan a herd-specific management practice to detect twin pregnancies. A highly accurate diagnostic tool is required to detect such pregnancies, already during the first month of gestation. This commentary review focuses on the diagnostic possibilities and limitations on the field. ABSTRACT: Twin pregnancies are an economically unwanted phenomenon in dairy cattle, not only because they increase pregnancy losses, but also because antibiotics usage and culling rate of the dam are also dramatically increased due to them, furthermore animal welfare issues are also affected through them. In cattle, under field conditions using an early pregnancy determination tool, the first accurate diagnosis from the pregnancy status is available from around day 28, although further confirmations of pregnancy are required. Twin pregnancy diagnosis is available either by rectal palpation or ultrasonography. The measurement of pregnancy specific proteins are also available to determine gestation, but there is still a long way to go to properly identify twin pregnancies. In this commentary, we compared our own results with the literature data in this field with a special emphasis on the clinical practices.