Abstract
The article presents the results of studies on evaluation of the effectiveness of the flavobetin drug in the prevention of pathologies of labor and postpartum period in cows under heat stress. Clinical trials of the new veterinary drug were carried out during the period of influence of high-temperature atmospheric factors on farm animals, which caused the development of heat stress. For the studies in June 2024, five groups of 10 individuals each (four experimental and one control) were formed from cows in the initial dry period. The livestock of the first three experimental groups was given flavobetin in different courses (during thirty, forty-five and sixty days) up to calving – once a day at a dose of 50 grams per cow. The fourth experimental group received the comparison drug – betaine, and the herd of the 5th group served as a control. During the experimental period, the herd was clinically examined daily, and one week after calving the blood was taken for laboratory tests from 5 cows in each group. Calculation of the temperature-humidity index has shown that in the summer period, cattle almost constantly experience heat stress – from low to moderate. A course of flavobetin drug use in cows during the period of exposure to high ambient temperature makes it possible to reduce the clinical manifestations of heat stress and has a positive effect on blood parameters, which is manifested by a decrease in the concentration of cortisol by 11.54–25.11 % with an increase in the progesterone content by 6.85–15.06 %. In the experimental cows, relative to the control, a decrease in the markers of endogenous intoxication in the blood was also registered. Conducted clinical trials have demonstrated the high prophylactic efficiency of the drug flavobetin in pathologies of labor and postpartum period in cows, confirmed by a reduction in the number of stillborn calves and ketosis by 10 %, retention of placenta, postpartum endometritis and subinvolution of the uterus by 10–30 %.