Contents



Preface

This book, Animal Reproduction in Veterinary Medicine, targets a broad audience: veterinarian students, academics, veterinary practitioners, and even the general community. Through time, reproduction has been increasingly foreseen as critical for livestock production. Different environmental stimuli, together with genetic improvement, has driven an increase in the production levels, as well as raising new challenges in cattle reproduction, with the increased number of reproductive failures, that is not always easy to solve. Veterinarians and farmers have to deal daily with reproduction issues and struggle to correct infertility and improve the reproductive

Reproductive problems may present with multiple causes for a single symptom, challenging the practitioner to keep up with the ever-growing information published on different aspects of animal reproduction, from the physiology to the technology, passing through the therapeutics and new diagnostic tools. Diagnosis is not always easy, and the therapeutic approach may be tentative. In some situations, the physiologic and immunological mechanisms retain the ability to respond to aggressive treatment, and some empirical approaches to master reproductive processes still lack published support.

Many researchers across the globe contributed to this book. Herein the reader can find new information on various aspects of animal reproduction: the estrous cycle in ruminants, the manipulation of the cycle and synchronization of ovulation in ruminants, the clinical management of the Lidia breed, optimizing piglet survival and sow reproductive health, the primary physiological mechanism regulating reproduction and clinical endocrinology in ruminants and mares, pheromones to stimulate sow reproduction, some clinical aspects of the reproductive function, mastitis, milk production, calf-sex influence on bovine milk production and reproductive toxicology in veterinary medicine. When readers and stakeholders provide new feedback on this present form of the book, we hope this will be the drive to add new chapters to a

**Faruk Aral**

Independent Researcher

Department of Veterinary Medicine,

Environment and Development, ECT, Universidade de Évora [Pole at Mitra],

**Miguel Nuno Pinheiro Quaresma**

MED - Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture,

Animal and Veterinary Research Center (CECAV), Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro,

**Rita Payan Carreira**

Évora, Portugal

Vila Real, Portugal

fitness of ruminant species worldwide.

book series.
