Impacts of climatic variable in the agility of neonate Nelore

Abstract

Aiming at identifing the behavioral patterns in the cow-calf relationship of the Nelore beef breed and how the environment can interfere in this relationship, and proposing practical solutions of manage, a study measuring behavior, by means of direct observations of the activities of 112 cows and their calves in the first hours after calving was conducted in two farms located in Sertãozinho and Brotas, State of São Paulo. The variables latency time to stand up (LP) and latency time to suck (LM) in minutes, in the calves, and time to contact the calves (TCC) and lying time (TD), in percentage, in the cows were measured and analyzed. Temperature and the relative humidity of the air were registered to generate the temperature and humidity index (ITU), which was correlated to the cow-calf behavior variables. The results showed significative effects (P<0.05) of farm, location of calving in relation to the herd and ITU. The LP can be a measure of calf vigor, and it was influenced by several environmental factors. The TCC had significant effect (P<0.05) on the LP. Beef cattle selection must include the characteristics of neonate calf agility and maternal care of the cows, as tools to optimization and economical viability of this exploration.