Examining environmental stress in first-calf heifers
- Project No: 2024F2660R
- Lead Researcher(s): Gleise Medeiros da Silva (University of Alberta)
- Collaborators: Edward Bork, John Basarab (University of Alberta); Carolyn Fitzsimmons (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)
- Year Started: 2024
Background
Previous work by this team examined the relationship between residual feed intake (RFI) and environmental conditions on crossbred beef heifers during both the summer and winter months. They observed various physiological and behavioural differences between efficient (low RFI) and inefficient (high RFI) animals in the face of extreme weather conditions. This included potential differences in immune function, activity levels, and basal metabolic rates.
This project will expand that work to examine the effects of summer conditions on first calf heifers to see if similar trends are observed.
Objective
- Investigate the relationship between lactating first calf heifer weather resilience and feed efficiency by assessing physiological status, milk composition, growth performance, and behaviour during summer
- Examine associations between environmental conditions and physiological or behavioural changes
What they did
This project will contribute to the body of knowledge that attempts to explain individual animal differences in efficiency, and improved understanding of the impacts of environmental conditions on animal physiology, behaviour, and performance on first calf heifers, and their calves. This understanding may also result in alternative management strategies to mitigate environmental stress in cattle.
This project is also supported by RDAR