Benefits of automated acclimatization during the pre-milking phase of lactating girolando cows

Engenharia Agrícola

Irenilson M. Da Silva¹  Héliton Pandorfi²  Gledson L. P. Almeida¹  Cristiane Guiselini²  Hugo M. Henrique¹ 

[1] ,UFRPE Departamento de Tecnologia Rural Recife PE

关键词: thermal comfort;    automation;    dairy cattle;    evaporative cooling system;    conforto térmico;    automação;    bovinocultura de leite;    resfriamento evaporativo;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0100-69162011000500002

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the automated acclimatization effects during pre-milking of cows on thermal conditioning, physiology, milk production and cost-benefit of the automated adiabatic evaporative cooling system (AECS). The treatments 20; 30; 40 min and control consisted of exposure time of pre-milking cows to the automated AECS. Sixteen cows were used with an average daily milk yield of 19 kg, distributed in a 4 x 4 Latin square design. The Tukey's test (P<0.05) was used to compare the means. The environmental variables, dry bulb temperature (DBT, ºC) and relative humidity (RH, %), were recorded every minute, which allowed the determination of the system efficiency through the Temperature and Humidity Index (THI). The respiratory rate (RR), rectal temperature (RT) and temperature of the coat (TC) were measured before and after the acclimatization. The 40 min treatment kept the environmental variables and the comfort indexes within recommended limits. The physiological variables (RR, RT and TC) were lower in the 40 min treatment and reflected positively on milk production, which increased 3.66% compared to the control treatment. The system was profitable, having a 43 days return on investment and a monthly revenue increase of R$ 1,992.67.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
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