ABSTRACT
Objective
Seasonal heat stress during late gestation influences subsequent milk yield, immunity,
reproduction, and health of dairy cows. Our objective was to determine the effects
of seasonal heat stress experienced by calves in utero on survival, age at first calving,
and milk production during the first lactation under commercial conditions.
Materials and Methods
Records of 4,274 Holstein heifers born under commercial conditions in north-central
Florida during 3 consecutive years were analyzed. Based on temperature-humidity index
values, heifers were considered to experience in utero heat stress during late gestation
when born between July and September (hot season, HS) or no in utero heat stress when
born between January and March (cool season, CS).
Results and Discussion
Cool season heifers calved about one month earlier than HS heifers (P < 0.001). Cool season heifers tended (P = 0.08) to produce more milk and more protein (P < 0.001) than HS. There was no difference (P = 0.93) in survival to parity 1 and 2, but HS heifers had greater (P = 0.03) survival to parity 3. For survival after first calving up to 300 DIM, CS
heifers had a greater survival rate compared with HS heifers (P = 0.04).
Implications and Applications
Although the effect of different season of calving for the HS and CS heifers cannot
be ruled out given the design of the present study, results are generally consistent
with the effect of in utero heat stress in controlled studies on calf health and performance
at maturity. Dry cow cooling during seasonal heat stress may limit negative effects
on calves in utero.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
August 17,
2020
Received:
June 4,
2020
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
