Late-gestation heat stress impairs daughter and granddaughter lifetime performance

By J. Laporta, F.C. Ferreira, V. Ouellet, B. Dado-Senn, A.K. Almeida, A. De Vries, G.E. Dahl

Published on 10/06/2020

Records of late-gestation heat stress studies conducted over 10 consecutive years in Florida were pooled and analyzed. What researchers found is the U.S. economic losses for additional heifer rearing costs, reduced productive life, and reduced milk yield of the F1 offspring were estimated at $134, $90, and $371 million per year, respectively. Late-gestation heat stress exerts carryover effects on at least two generations. This quantifies the need for providing heat abatement to dry-pregnant dams to rescue milk loss and to prevent losses in their progeny.

Read the paper here.