Taxa de gestação em fêmeas da raça Holandesa confinadas em free stall, no verão e inverno Gestation rate of Holstein females confined in free stall, during the summer and winter

A taxa de gestação de vacas em lactação e de novilhas confinadas em free stall foi avaliada durante o inverno e o verão, nos anos de 1993, 1994 e 1995. A temperatura ambiente (TA) e a umidade relativa do ar (UR) foram acompanhadas diariamente, durante quatro meses de verão (dezembro a março) e três meses de inverno (junho a agosto). Em cada estação mediram-se semanalmente às 9, 15 e 21h a temperatura retal (TR) e a freqüência respiratória (FR) de 50% das vacas em lactação, sorteadas ao acaso, separadas em quatro grupos de acordo com a produção de leite. A TA e o índice de temperatura e umidade (ITU) médios foram mais elevados (P The gestation rate was used to evaluate the reproductive performance of dairy cows and heifers confined in a free stall barn during the winter and summer seasons of 1993, 1994 and 1995. The temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) were monitored daily during the summer (December, January, February and March) and winter (June, July and August). The rectal temperature (RT) and respiration rate (RR) were measured weekly at 9AM and 3 and 9PM, in each season, in 50% of the animals randomly selected and sorted in four groups based on their milk production. The averages of T and the temperature and humidity index (THI) were higher in the summer (25.6ºC e 75.8) than in the winter (19.0ºC e 65.3), while the RH were the same in both seasons (80.0%). The averages of RT and RR were always higher in the summer and at 3PM when compared to 9AM RT and RR (39.47ºC and 64.76 mov/min vs 38.89ºC and 44.21 mov/min). Gestation rate for milking cows was smaller in summer than in the winter. Conversely 85.4% of heifers became pregnant during the summer and 78.5% during the winter season