Diagnóstico da eficiência reprodutiva em rebanhos leiteiros na agricultura familiar no munícipio de Realeza - Paraná

Abstract

Family farming in Brazil, especially in Paraná, plays a fundamental role in dairy production. The state ranks second in the national milk production ranking (2022). The Southwest region of Paraná produced one million liters of milk in 2020. Dairy production is essential for the subsistence and income generation of farming families, who use their own labor and sell the remaining production. The reproductive efficiency of female cattle is crucial to the profitability of the activity and, according to some authors, is influenced by factors such as nutrition, management, and reproductive health conditions. In this study, the main objective was to diagnose the reproductive efficiency of dairy herds from family farms in the municipality of Realeza, Paraná, Brazil. The study was conducted on ten farms, evaluating 156 pubertal female cattle through gynecological examinations, pregnancy diagnoses, and body condition score analysis. The collected data were subjected to statistical analysis to correlate the pregnancy rate with the following livestock variables: age, body condition score, number of calvings, type of service, number of services, and category. The average number of pubertal female cattle per property was 15.6 ± 7.58. A higher prevalence of acyclic (25.64%) and pregnant (55.13%) females was observed. Uterine health assessment revealed that only 1.92% of the female cattle presented intrauterine contents suggestive of infection. Most female cattle were over 60 months old, which contrasts with previous studies indicating a younger average age. The calving distribution showed that 33.33% of the females had already had more than three calvings, which is related to the older age of the animals and the greater number of multiparous females (72.44%) in the herds evaluated. The body condition score of most of the herds studied was within 3.0 points. Data analysis also revealed that 66.03% of the females were subjected to natural breeding, a practice that poses some risks, such as the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. The pregnancy rate was not influenced by the variables in the zootechnical data. These results suggest the need for improvements in reproductive management and herd health, aiming to increase reproductive efficiency and, consequently, milk production and profitability on the properties studied. The research highlights the importance of recording/annotating the reproductive data of female cattle for better management of dairy farms.