Percepção dos produtores de leite sobre o estresse térmico e medidas adotadas para amenizar os seus impactos

Abstract

Brazil is a country where agribusiness has great socioeconomic relevance, and one of the areas with greatest emphasis is the production of dairy cattle. Several factors can negatively impact the production of the properties that develop this activity, among them climatic and environmental factors, which depend directly on climate change processes. Faced with these changes, the challenge for producers is to adopt measures that reduce the impact of heat stress on their production. The objective of this study was to clarify what knowledge the producers have about heat stress and what measures can be adopted to mitigate this problem. The execution of this work was done in three stages, which consisted in the elaboration of a questionnaire, which was later applied directly to the producers and, finally, the statistical analysis and quantitative and qualitative interpretation of the data obtained. According to the results presented, 59% of the producers have their properties with an area larger than 50ha and a milk production greater than 50 liters per day. Another important fact is that most producers are aware that simple measures can be adopted as a way to mitigate the problems caused by heat stress. However, it can also be concluded that the smaller the area and production, the lower is the knowledge and/or perception of the producer about heat stress.