Ordem de parição de matrizes e desempenho de bezerros do setor de bovinos de leite (SEBOL) da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia

Abstract

The management of dairy calves is crucial and directly reflects on production performance. Therefore, the objective of this research was to verify the influence of the sow calving order on the performance of calves from the dairy cattle sector (SEBOL) at the Federal University of Uberlândia, evaluating the characteristics of birth weight (kg), weight up to the destination of the animals for the calves (kg) and weaning weight (kg), as well as the amount of colostrum ingestion (L) and the method of ingestion. 48 calves were selected, and the following variables were analyzed: days in lactation, birth weight (kg), amount of colostrum ingested (L), whether they were suckled from the dam, weight when leaving the maternity ward (kg) and weight at weaning (kg) . After birth and initial handling, the calves were monitored with the cattle weighing tape and their weight was measured at each stage. The collected data were subjected to the Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests to verify normality and the Bartlett test was used to evaluate the homogeneity of variances. Variables that did not meet the aforementioned assumptions were transformed using the BoxCox method. Those that did not meet the assumptions after the transformation were analyzed using the Kruskall - Wallis non-parametric test. Because they were of different sexes, the sex effect was considered as a block and the design used was the randomized block design (DBC). The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis according to the assumptions of ANOVA using the F test, and the means were compared using the Tukey test at a 5% level of significance. A Pearson correlation was performed between the characteristics evaluated. The average birth weight, birth weight and weaning weight and colostrum intake were not influenced by the birth order of the animals. Calves that suckled from their mothers had higher weaning weights than calves that received colostrum through artificial feeding. The gender effect did not influence the variables of birth weight, colostrum intake, weight at leaving the maternity ward and weaning weight. There was a positive correlation between birth weight and weight when leaving the maternity ward (0.76) and with weaning weight (0.59). It was concluded that the calving order did not influence the weights of the calves at the different moments evaluated, with maternal colostrum ingestion providing heavier calves at weaning, with the amount of colostrum ingested being strongly correlated with the weight when leaving the maternity ward.