Impacto do uso do manejo racional em novilhos de corte durante procedimentos sanitários

Abstract

Rational management, known as gentle management, provides better welfare conditions for beef cattle and has a positive effect on productivity. Human-animal interaction is the main pillar of this type of management, requiring human understanding of cattle ethology to alleviate stress during management. Therefore, the objective was to analyze whether the adoption of rational management influences the behavior of beef cattle during health management. The study was conducted in the beef cattle sector of the Capim Branco farm, part of the Federal University of Uberlândia, from March to July 2024. Twenty steers, average 18 months old, of European crossbreed and Zebu (Nelore-Angus), and raised on pasture were used. First, a group of 10 animals underwent rational management, in which they were individually led through the chute to the holding chute, using handling flags. They were then restrained by neck restraints for vaccination, maintaining a quiet environment and prohibiting people from entering the chute platform. The control group, also with 10 animals and managed second, underwent conventional management. In this group, 5 animals were led to the chute at a time, allowing the use of sticks, people moving around the platform, and noise, also restrained by neck restraints for vaccination. The behaviors of climbing on another animal, lying down, kneeling, movement during injection, handling time, number of missed doses, repeated needle insertion, and injection in an inappropriate location were recorded. Individual weighing, performed without fasting, was performed at each collection, and weight gain was calculated at the end of the collections, considering the difference between each subsequent drop and the immediately preceding one, totaling four time points. The behaviors were analyzed using the chi-square test, showing that climbing on another animal, kneeling, and lying down occurred more frequently in conventional compared to rational handling. The variables accident, displacement during application, and dose loss showed no significant differences between the management systems. Management time, analyzed by the Mann-Whitney test, also did not differ between the groups. Weight gain, assessed by the Kruskal-Wallis test, showed a difference only between the fourth and third collections, with a higher difference in the rational group. Thus, it is concluded that animals subjected to management with a lower level of stress reduce the expression of negative responses.