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Vitali, A., Felici, A., Esposito, S., Bernabucci, U., Bertocchi, L., Maresca, C., et al. (2015). The effect of heat waves on dairy cow mortality. J. Dairy Sci., 98(7), 4572–4579.
Abstract: This study investigated the mortality of dairy cows during heat waves. Mortality data (46,610 cases) referred to dairy cows older than 24 mo that died on a farm from all causes from May 1 to September 30 during a 6-yr period (2002-2007). Weather data were obtained from 12 weather stations located in different areas of Italy. Heat waves were defined for each weather station as a period of at least 3 consecutive days, from May 1 to September 30 (2002-2007), when the daily maximum temperature exceeded the 90th percentile of the reference distribution (1971-2000). Summer days were classified as days in heat wave (HW) or not in heat wave (nHW). Days in HW were numbered to evaluate the relationship between mortality and length of the wave. Finally, the first 3 nHW days after the end of a heat wave were also considered to account for potential prolonged effects. The mortality risk was evaluated using a case-crossover design. A conditional logistic regression model was used to calculate odds ratio and 95% confidence interval for mortality recorded in HW compared with that recorded in nHW days pooled and stratified by duration of exposure, age of cows, and month of occurrence. Dairy cows mortality was greater during HW compared with nHW days. Furthermore, compared with nHW days, the risk of mortality continued to be higher during the 3 d after the end of HW. Mortality increased with the length of the HW. Considering deaths stratified by age, cows up to 28 mo were not affected by HW, whereas all the other age categories of older cows (29-60, 61-96, and >96 mo) showed a greater mortality when exposed to HW. The risk of death during HW was higher in early summer months. In particular, the highest risk of mortality was observed during June HW. Present results strongly support the implementation of adaptation strategies which may limit heat stress-related impairment of animal welfare and economic losses in dairy cow farm during HW.
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Bernabucci, U., Biffani, S., Buggiotti, L., Vitali, A., Lacetera, N., & Nardone, A. (2014). The effects of heat stress in Italian Holstein dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci., 97(1), 471–486.
Abstract: The data set for this study comprised 1,488,474 test-day records for milk, fat, and protein yields and fat and protein percentages from 191,012 first-, second-, and third-parity Holstein cows from 484 farms. Data were collected from 2001 through 2007 and merged with meteorological data from 35 weather stations. A linear model (M1) was used to estimate the effects of the temperature-humidity index (THI) on production traits. Least squares means from M1 were used to detect the THI thresholds for milk production in all parities by using a 2-phase linear regression procedure (M2). A multiple-trait repeatability test-model (M3) was used to estimate variance components for all traits and a dummy regression variable (t) was defined to estimate the production decline caused by heat stress. Additionally, the estimated variance components and M3 were used to estimate traditional and heat-tolerance breeding values (estimated breeding values, EBV) for milk yield and protein percentages at parity 1. An analysis of data (M2) indicated that the daily THI at which milk production started to decline for the 3 parities and traits ranged from 65 to 76. These THI values can be achieved with different temperature/humidity combinations with a range of temperatures from 21 to 36°C and relative humidity values from 5 to 95%. The highest negative effect of THI was observed 4 d before test day over the 3 parities for all traits. The negative effect of THI on production traits indicates that first-parity cows are less sensitive to heat stress than multiparous cows. Over the parities, the general additive genetic variance decreased for protein content and increased for milk yield and fat and protein yield. Additive genetic variance for heat tolerance showed an increase from the first to third parity for milk, protein, and fat yield, and for protein percentage. Genetic correlations between general and heat stress effects were all unfavorable (from -0.24 to -0.56). Three EBV per trait were calculated for each cow and bull (traditional EBV, traditional EBV estimated with the inclusion of THI covariate effect, and heat tolerance EBV) and the rankings of EBV for 283 bulls born after 1985 with at least 50 daughters were compared. When THI was included in the model, the ranking for 17 and 32 bulls changed for milk yield and protein percentage, respectively. The heat tolerance genetic component is not negligible, suggesting that heat tolerance selection should be included in the selection objectives.
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Bertocchi, L., Vitali, A., Lacetera, N., Nardone, A., Varisco, G., & Bernabucci, U. (2014). Seasonal variations in the composition of Holstein cow’s milk and temperature-humidity index relationship. Animal, 8(4), 667–674.
Abstract: A retrospective study on seasonal variations in the characteristics of cow’s milk and temperature-humidity index (THI) relationship was conducted on bulk milk data collected from 2003 to 2009. The THI relationship study was carried out on 508 613 bulk milk data items recorded in 3328 dairy farms form the Lombardy region, Italy. Temperature and relative humidity data from 40 weather stations were used to calculate THI. Milk characteristics data referred to somatic cell count (SCC), total bacterial count (TBC), fat percentage (FA%) and protein percentage (PR%). Annual, seasonal and monthly variations in milk composition were evaluated on 656 064 data items recorded in 3727 dairy farms. The model highlighted a significant association between the year, season and month, and the parameters analysed (SCC, TBC, FA%, PR%). The summer season emerged as the most critical season. Of the summer months, July presented the most critical conditions for TBC, FA% and PR%, (52 054 ± 183 655, 3.73% ± 0.35% and 3.30% ± 0.15%, respectively), and August presented higher values of SCC (369 503 ± 228 377). Each milk record was linked to THI data calculated at the nearest weather station. The analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between THI and SCC and TBC, and indicated a significant change in the slope at 57.3 and 72.8 maximum THI, respectively. The model demonstrated a negative correlation between THI and FA% and PR% and provided breakpoints in the pattern at 50.2 and 65.2 maximum THI, respectively. The results of this study indicate the presence of critical climatic thresholds for bulk tank milk composition in dairy cows. Such indications could facilitate the adoption of heat management strategies, which may ensure the health and production of dairy cows and limit related economic losses.
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Lacetera, N., Vitali, A., Bernabucci, U., & Nardone, A. (2014). Relationships between temperature humidity index, mortality, milk yield and composition in Italian dairy cows. FACCE MACSUR Mid-term Scientific Conference, 3(S) Sassari, Italy.
Abstract: The aim of this presentation is to illustrate the activities performed by the LiveM-Task L1.2. group based at the University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy. Three different pluriannual databases were built to perform retrospective studies aimed at establishing the relationships between temperature humidity index (THI) and parameters of interest for dairy cow farms. The THI combines temperature and humidity in a single value and has been widely used to quantify heat stress in farm animals. The first database was built to assess the relationships between THI and mortality over a 6 yr period (2002-2007); the second one was a 7 yr database (2001-2007) which was built to establish the relationships between THI and milk yield; the last database included THI, milk somatic cell counts, total bacterial counts, fat and protein percentages data collected over a 7 yr period (2003-2009). The analysis of the three databases provided several equations which demonstrated and quantified an increase of mortality, reduction of milk yield and a worsening of milk quality in hot environment. Results of these analyzes authorized speculations about risks for dairy cows and their productivity in a warming planet. Furthermore, the same results are being utilized by economists also working within MACSUR at the University of Tuscia for an integrated study aimed at establishing the economic impact of climate change in the dairy sector. Combining this information with climate change regional scenarios might permit prediction of the impact of global warming and identification of adaptation measures that are appropriate for specific contexts.
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Lacetera, N., Vitali, A., Bernabucci, U., & Nardone, A. (2015). Report on the analysis of interannual and seasonal variations in productive, reproductive and health data (Vol. 4).
Abstract: The work carried out under LiveM, L1.2 and described herein was based on construction and query of large databases which included multiannual productive and health field data. Productive data referred to dairy cows, whereas health data were relative both to dairy cows and pigs. The analysis pointed out significant seasonal variations of parameters under study. In synthesis, summer/hot season was associated with significant worsening of dairy cows milk composition and with significant higher risk of death in pigs. These results may help to predict consequences of climate change in economically important sectors of the livestock industry and also to identify and target adaptation options that are appropriate for specific contexts, and that can contribute to environmental sustainability as well as to economic development. No Label
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