Factores com influência nos parâmetros produtivos e reprodutivos numa vacada de raça Alentejana

Mestrado em Engenharia Zootécnica - Produção Animal - Instituto Superior de Agronomia / Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária It is well accepted that one of the biggest concerns of the beef producers is reducing the calving interval, because of the great impact it has on the productivity of the herd, as well as the productive parameters of their calves. All these factors are influenced by environmental conditions in which the environment and management, namely reproductive and feeding management can be highlighted. The aim of this work was to study the effect of farm, calving number, sex of the calf, year and season of births in the calving interval of the Alentejano cows in two farms (Paço and Pinheiros) belonging to Eugénio de Almeida Foundation. Also, the effects of farm, year and season of birth on the various productive parameters of steers produced were studied. The results obtained indicate the existence of a strong effect of year of birth, probably related to annual rainfall, as well as calving number on the calving interval. Also, the season of birth influenced the lenght of calving interval, revealing that the best seasons are spring and autumn. Also the year and season of birth had influences on the productive characteristics of animals, noting that the summer was clearly the season of births which showed worse results.