Endometritis & Metricheck - Improving Fertility by Identifying and Treating Early

Want to get more cows in calf?  Treating endometritis might be the answer.

Endometritis is caused by a bacterial infection and inflammation of the uterus after calving that has negative effects on all the important measures of reproductive efficiency (conception rate, 3 week submission rate, 6 week in calf rate, empty rate).

Endometritis is easily diagnosed by the presence of a  Purulent Vaginal Discharge (PVD) using a Metricheck. Cows are graded from 1 to 5 with Score 1 being no pus,

Score 2 is clear mucus with flecks of pus, Score3 is mucus with < 50 % pus, Score 4 is mucus with > 50 % pus and Score 5 is > 50 % pus with a foul odour.

The reproductive outcomes of cows with various grades of PVD has been clearly demonstrated in a NZ study looking at 1806 cows randomly selected from 100 herds in the Waikato and Canterbury regions (McDougal, 2015).  The selected cows were Metrichecked at about 4 weeks prior to MSD with 25 % found to have a PVD score of ³2.

Interestingly the prevalence of score >2 cows varied a lot among the study herds, ranging from 5 % to 65 %. Most of the variation was explained by differences in transition cow management and calving difficulties (difficult birth, still birth, assisted birth etc).  However, the impact on fertility of PVD is clear, particularly score 3 and above!

The best approach to dealing with endometritis in a herd is to Metricheck regularly prior to MSD. Check batches of cows at 21 - 28 days post calving followed by a whole herd check about 4 weeks prior to MSD to pick up any cows that were missed (a Metricheck will detect about 88% of dirty cows) or did not respond to treatment at the first Metricheck.  Waiting until about 21 - 28 days after calving before Metrichecking will let cows that are going to “self cure” do their thing and only pick up cows that have persistent endometritis that  will benefit from antibiotic treatment. 

Another large NZ study (Clews, 2016) involving 15000 cows across 29 herds has validated the regular visit approach finding a 10 % increase in 6 week in calf rate for those herd that were Metrichecking regularly after calving (59 %) compared to those that had a single Metricheck 28 days before MSD (49 %). 

Every 1 % increase in the 6 week in calf rate equates to $4 of additional profit per cow - so a 10 % increase in 6 week in calf rate in a 300 cow herd is worth about $12,000 of additional profit (NB -  the InCalf target for 6 week in calf rate in Austalia and New Zealand  is 78% with preliminary results from the  2025 - 2026 season in NZ looking like being around 69.8 % while Aus typically sits around 67 - 68 % - so there is still plenty of room for improvement! )

Treatment of endometritis is best done with intrauterine antibiotics (Cephapirin) and if a cow is cycling at the time of diagnosis of PVD, a shot of prostaglandin will also help her to clean up.

Contact one of our vets to design a Metricheck program that will suit your herd.