A descriptive study of teat morphology, milking machine characteristics, and milking practices in a sample of Brazilian dairy herds.

Gouvea, Fábio Lucas Rezende de; Cardozo, Leonardo Leite; Canal, J.; Troncarelli, Marcella Zampolli; Pantoja, J.C.F.

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2020.104196

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…We measured five different characteristics of technification in dairy production (Table 1), following the milk production systems prevalent in Brazil [39]: (i) productivity [40], measured by daily milk production; (ii) feed management [41,42], measured by primary forage diet, fertilizer pasture management, time of supplementary feed, criterium to supplement, and addition of vitamins to supplement; (iii) milking management [43], measured by milking method, milking frequency, and farm infrastructure for milking; (iv) sanitary control [44], measured by cleaning of udder before milking and CMT test (California Mastitis Test); (v) genetics and breeding [45], measured by breeding program for productivity improvement, selective breeding method and pregnancy diagnosis. We used daily milk production as a measure of productivity because farmers had no information on milk production per cow.…”

Section: Technification Variables and Farm Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technification in Dairy Farms May Reconcile Habitat Conservation in a Brazilian Savanna Region

et al. 2021

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The assessment of the relationships between farm management systems and nature conservation may help in the design of more efficient strategies to uphold economic benefits and biodiversity conservation. To our knowledge, this is the first work in Brazil to study the relationship between farm conservation status and technification level. Here, we test the hypothesis that dairy farms with higher levels of technification have a higher percentage of natural vegetation and connectivity, and that differences in environment features between farms explain their conservation status. We obtained variables related to the level of technification such as feed, milking, sanitary control and breeding management systems. We show that farmers with a higher level of technification, such as artificial insemination in cattle breeding, tended to conserve a higher percentage of natural vegetation, as well as larger farms with a higher percentage of riparian forest. The adoption of artificial insemination is associated with other technification systems such as a forage diet, milking method and frequency and sanitary control. It is also significantly related to higher milk productivity. Our novel results point to a positive effect of technification on the conservation of natural vegetation, suggesting that economic incentives and programs aimed at increasing technification in cattle breeding may increase dairy production and conservation within the study area. Our findings also show an effect of larger areas of riparian forests, which are protected by Brazilian policy, in the conservation status of dairy farms.

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