Michelle Rhoads

My current research interests focus on the fertility of early lactation dairy cattle.  Specific interests include:  the nutritional and metabolic regulation of dairy cow fertility, and how the environment within the reproductive tract changes during the estrous cycle and from non-pregnancy to pregnancy.  The primary aim is to elucidate factors involved in the apparent decrease in dairy cow fertility, including changes in growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-I, ghrelin and multiple reproductive hormones