THERMAL EFFICIENCY OF INDIVIDUAL SHELTERS FOR GIROLANDO CALVES IN BRAZILIAN SEMI-ARID REGIONS

The objective of this research was to evaluate the thermal efficiency of roofs used on individual shelters during milk-feeding stage of Girolando calves. The research was conducted at a farm located in a dry region of Pernambuco state, Brazil. The experimental design was completely randomized, with 27 Holstein × Gir dairy crossbred calves housed in shelters with three roofing materials (fibre cement tile, recycled tile, and thatched roofs). The recycled tiles and thatched roofs provided reductions of 18.7 and 14.6% in radiant thermal load, respectively. Regardless the roofing material, all animals increased their respiratory rate to maintain thermal equilibrium.

First reproductive and productive results on “Ribatejano pig”

The present trail aimed to study the effect of crossbreeding between Alentejano (AL) and Bísaro (BI) swine breeds (“Ribatejano pig”) on some reproductive and productive traits. Nine AL gilts and sows and six BI gilts were crossed with BI and AL boars, respectively. Mating and farrowing dates, prolificacy and litter size at 28d were registered for all sows. The pregnancy length of AL sows was shorter (111±0.4d vs 113.7±0.5d; p=0.002) than the observed on BI females. The BI gilts presented higher prolificacy rate than AL on both total born (11.0±1.0 vs 6.7±0.8; P=0.004) and born alive piglets (10.0±1.0 vs 6.7±0.8; p=0.026). The mortality rate was similar in both genotypes (p=0.255) being on average 12%, therefore at 28d after farrowing the litter size remained higher in BI sows (8.5±0.8 vs 6.1±0.6; p= 0.032). A subset of each genotype (4 gilts) was supervised during farrowing and lactation (until 28d) and piglets were weighed at birth, 24h and 28d of live. Farrowing length was not significantly different (p=0.253) between genotypes, averaging 97±22 min. When compared to ALBI (AL x BI) piglets, the BIAL (BI x AL) piglets were heavier at birth (1402±46g vs 1209±36g; p=0.002). Colostrum intake of piglets per kg of birth weight on the first 24h of life was similar between genotypes (p=0.735) being 289±15g for ALBI and 281±19g for BIAL piglets. The growth rate of piglets from birth to 28d and piglet weight at 28d was not different between genotypes (p=0.161 and p=0.091) averaging 195±6g and 6761±181g, respectively. Litter weight at 28d tended (P=0.06) to be higher on ALBI litters (56.6±4.0kg) than BIAL litters (43.2±4.0kg). This results obtained within the frame of Treasure project* are, at our knowledge, the first data of these crossbred piglets and could be used in future as reference for further studies and also for farmers that may try these cross on a commercial basis.