@conference {40852,
	title = {Reproductive senescence in aged red deer hinds},
	booktitle = {Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	volume = {56},
	year = {1996},
	month = {Jan},
	pages = {344-346},
	publisher = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	organization = {New Zealand Society of Animal Production},
	abstract = {This study reports on the performance of some of the original animals  used to establish the Invermay deer farm. These comprised a selection of  some of the original 1973 animals, 21 hinds of unknown age and 19 of the  first hind calves born at Invermay in that year. Reproductive performance, expressed as the percentage of hinds weaning  calves, decreased slowly from 90\% at 6 and 7 years of age, to 50\% at 17  years, then dropped markedly with only one calf being successfully reared in  each season when the hinds were 19 and 20 years. Similarly, few (5/21) of  the older unknown-age hinds raised calves when > 17 years old. When  blood sampled twice-weekly during the breeding season (rising 21 years of  age), only 6/12 of the known-age hinds had significant plasma progesterone  concentrations, with only 3 animals displaying anything like normal cyclical  patterns. In addition, most had elevated plasma LH concentrations. Post  mortem examination revealed that all these hinds had small reproductive  tracts and very few ovarian follicles at this age. Despite an ability to live beyond 20 years, these results suggest that waning  reproductive performance with age may be due to ovarian failure.},
	issn = {1176-5283},
	author = {Fisher MW and McLeod BJ and Mockett BG and Moore GH and Drew KR}
}
