DESCRIÇÃO DOS PARÂMETROS REPRODUTIVOS DE UMA PROPRIEDADE LEITEIRA DO SUL DE MINAS NA FASE DE RECRIA EM SISTEMA COMPOST BARN: relato de caso

Abstract

Compost Barn is a system for rearing cattle that emerged in 1980, in the United States, and has been increasingly used in Brazil. The main objective of this system is to confine the dairy cattle in order to increase the comfort and life expectancy of the cows, aiming to improve the animal's living conditions, taking into account its well-being, pregnancy rate and financial return to the producer. In this sense, the present work presented a description of the reproductive parameters of a dairy farm that performs the rearing in the Compost Barn system, analyzing data related to the beginning of puberty and pregnancy and conception rates of the herd, comparing them with what is described in the literature. Zootechnical data were collected from a farm located in the south of the state of Minas Gerais, called Farm 1, which uses CB in the growing phase. The data obtained comprised the period from May 1, 2020 to August 30, 2021, with 433 animals analyzed, of which data related to productivity (average weight gain in the phase) and reproductive parameters, such as average age, were analyzed. at the first service and at the first calving, pregnancy, conception and service rate of the herd, in order to evaluate the efficiency of the system in question on the rearing of bovine females. There was an earlier mean age at first breeding, higher mean weight of heifers at first insemination, higher mean daily weight gain until calving and lower mean age at first calving. Data related to pregnancy rate, conception rate and service rate were also satisfactory. Thus, it is possible to conclude that the method in question has numerous advantages, either in relation to the pregnancy rate or in relation to the welfare of animals, justifying its implementation and encouraging further research on the subject, still little used in the country, in comparison with other available methods.