CLINICAL AND HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN LACTATING COWS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HIGH AIR TEMPERATURE AND VOLUNTARY AND FORCED MILKING

Abstract

The effect of high air temperature on clinical and hematological parameters in lactating cows during voluntary and forced milking when they are kept in frame cowsheds made of steel structures was studied. During forced (milking parlor) and voluntary (milking robot) milking the heart rate of cows increased by 5 and 15 beats per minute, respectively, and the number of respiratory movements increased from 50 to 77 at high air temperature in the cowshed that is 1.7 and 2.1 times higher than at optimal values of this microclimate indicator. It was identified that the body surface temperature of cows depended on the air temperature in the cowshed during forced milking and, at high air temperature, it increased to 35.8–37.9 °C, which was 6.9– 7.5 °C above its optimal value, while this indicator of the udder increased from 31.6– 33.3 °C up to 32.3–38.5 °C. Humidification and irrigation of body surface in lactating cows in combination with increasing the airspeed to 1.2 m/s in the storage reduced body surface temperature of lactating cows to 33.2–34.5 °C that an average turned out to be by 2.5–4.7 °C lower than similar indicators for animals in the cowshed. The hemoglobin concentration in the blood of lactating cows is lower by 15.6 g/L, the number of band neutrophils – by 3.9% and monocytes – by 2.6% under high air temperature compared with the optimal. During voluntary milking at high temperatures compared with the optimal, the hemoglobin content in the blood was lower by 47.2 g/L, the number of white blood cells – by 1.95 g/L, and monocytes – by 6.25%

Keywords

• lactating cows
• milking parlor
• milking robot
• forced and voluntary milking
• air temperature
• clinical and hematological parameters