Effects of oestrogenic silage on some clinical and endocrinological parameters in ovariectomized heifers

The influence of phytoestrogens was studied in 3 ovariectomized Swedish Friesian heifers fed 20 kg of 100% red clover silage per heifer/day for 14 days. Behaviour, reproductive organs and pituitary response to exogenous gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) injections were monitored. Clinical effects like oedema and mucous discharge in the vulva, presence of milky fluid in the mammae and increases in teat size and the cross-sectional distance of the uterus were observed in heifers fed red clover silage. Fluid accumulation in the uterus, visualized by means of ultrasonography, had still not disappeared 30 days after the red clover silage had been completely withdrawn. Red clover silage appeared to reduce the magnitude and duration of the pituitary response to GnRH injections.