The objective was to evaluate the body composition and net requirements of the macro minerals calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K) for weight gain in 5/8 crossbreed Holstein-Zebu cattle maintained in pasture Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. Sixteen animals were used with 10 month of age and 180 ± 19.95 kg BW. The treatments were open access to pasture and restricted grazing, both supplemented with commercial mineral salt. Four animals slaughtered in the beginning of the experiment to serve […]

The experiment was carried out with the objective to evaluate the nutrient intakes and milk production and composition of lactating cows fed with rations containing different levels (0; 12,5; 25,0; 37,5 and 50.0%) of spineless cactus (Opuntia ficus Mill) and urea in substitution to the tifton grass hay. Five cows was distributed 5 × 5 Latin square experimental design. The dry matter and organic matter showed a quadratic effect with the inclusion of spineless cactus and urea. The crude protein […]

This work was carried out to apply a simulation model for the bioeconomic evaluation of feeding strategies for dairy herds and evaluate the physical productivity and the bioeconomic efficiency of feeding systems for dairy cows using feeding forage based strategies for cows with five levels of milk yield. An computational platform developed with the programs CNCPS v5.0 and electronic spreadsheets of Microsoft Excell® was used, in way to simulate the production and demands of nutrients of a complete lactation for […]

This work was carried out to development a alternative methodology for the bioeconomic evaluation of feeding strategies for dairy herds and evaluate the physical productivity and the bioeconomic efficiency of feeding systems for dairy cows when different feeding strategies forages based are used for cows of five levels of milk yield. The computational platform was developed with the programs CNCPS v5.0 and electronic spreadsheets of Microsoft Excell®, in way to simulate the production and demands of nutrients of a complete […]

Data comprising 263,390 test-day (TD) records of 32,448 first parity cows calving in 467 herds between 1991 and 2001 from the Brazilian Holstein Association were used to estimate genetic and permanent environmental variance components in a random regression animal model using Legendre polynomials (LP) of order three to five by REML. Residual variance was assumed to be constant in all or in some classes of lactation periods for each LP. Estimates of genetic and permanent environmental variances did not show […]

This work was carried out with the objective to study the annual behavior of thermo regulators traits in dairy cows. Two hundred cows were used during two consecutive years and the respiratory rate (RR), rectal temperature (RT), as well as a blood sample was collected for triiodothyronin (T3) and thyroxin (T4) dosages, were recorded. Air temperature and humidity were also recorded and the black globe humidity index (BGHI) and radiant heat load (RHL) were calculated in the same days of […]

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the intake and apparent digestibility of the nutrients in diets containing different levels (0, 12.0, 25.0, 38.0, and 51.0%) of forage cactus (Opuntia ficus indica Mill) in total replacement of corn (Zea mays L.) and partial of Tifton hay (Cynodon spp). Five Holstein cows were assigned to a 5×5 latin square. The animals showed an average of 583 ± 7,07 kg BW and lactation period around 110 days. Each experimental period lasted 17 days, […]

Data from 359 Holstein and 54 Jersey cows (total of 1359 observations) collected in commercial herds in the northeast of Brazil were used to evaluate six environmental stress indexes. The selection criterion was the correlation between the index value with the rectal temperature (RT) and the respiratory rate (RR) of cows. Both Temperature-Humidity Index (THI) and Black Globe-Humidity Index (BGHI) had the lowest correlations with animal RT and RR. The selected indexes were the Equivalent Temperature Index (r = 0.293 […]

Finite mixture models are helpful for uncovering heterogeneity due to hidden structure; for example, unknown major genes. The first part of this article gives examples and reviews quantitative genetics issues of continuous characters having a finite mixture of Gaussian components. The partition of variance in a mixture, the covariance between relatives under the supposition of an additive genetic model and the offspring-parent regression are derived. Formulae for assessing the effect of mass selection operating on a mixture are given. Expressions […]

The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic and phenotypic relationships between somatic cell count (SCC) and milk yield and to evaluate the possibility of using SCC as a selection criteria in breeding programs of dairy cattle. Somatic cell count records were transformed into somatic cell score (SCS) using a logarithmic scale. Genetic parameters for milk yield (305 days) and average somatic cell score (ASCS) were estimated. The overall means for 305-day milk yield (MY305) and ASCS were, […]