Reproductive Characterization of The Bovine Lidia Called “Brava Dos Açores”

Abstract

In Terceira Island -Azores -Portugal, agriculture and particularly the livestock sector is the mainstay of the economy, employing more than 50% of the total population. Besides the major farm resources include dairy cattle, a Lidia bovine population called "Brava dos Acores", destined to the typical Azorean street bullfighting "touradas à corda", as well as the traditional equestrian bullfight (in the ring), has an important place in cattle breeding in the Azores and particularly in Terceira Island. These farms are located essentially in the center of the island in areas where the edaphoclimatic conditions are poorer, integrating this livestock farming into the landscape and in the community. The system is characterized by land scarcity and the major livestock feed resources include grazing on marginal lands where animals are raised in special conditions, distinguished by its extensive management. For this reason, farm data-recording systems at the smallholder Lidia cattle level are either totally absent or incomplete, so it is usually difficult to get reliable data with which to evaluate the performance of smallholder cattle. Actually, about 2500 of Lidia animals are registered in the Zootechnical register of the bovine breed "Brava dos Açores" distributed to 42 breeders. From these animals, data related to the reproductive events of 94 females aged more than 24 months and distributed by four herds were followed and a database outlined created for each farm. Data of reproductive parameters included the number of registered cows, mean age of the breeding herd, the number of calving's, the average age at first calving, the apparent fertility rate, and the actual fertility rate, as well as the calving interval.Results demonstrated that considering all animals, the mean age of females of the reproductive herd was 100.08 ± 23 months. As far as the first calving is considered it has been observed than, on average it occurs at 36 ± 8.5 months, ranging from 30-48 months. For the calving interval, on average cows only the gave birth almost every two years (680 ± 75 days). For apparent and real fertility, results were respectively 76.5% and 41%. Results obtained in the present study clearly allows concluding that, falling fertility rates are a big concern for Lidia farmers as these animals are very dependent on the environment, the fact of not there is a large amount of food during the spring and summer, can explain the low fertility observed. Moreover, measures to improve the reproductive performance in females, could pass throughout making sure herd's diet meets the necessary protein, fat, energy and mineral requirements, besides in practice, getting it right is a little trickier. As normally the body condition score of this females are very low, supplementation with protein and energy could solve part of the problems as it is well known that certain fats increase progesterone -a hormone that plays an important role in facilitating healthy pregnancies.

Effects of cortisol levels on reproductive success in cattle of different temperaments during fixed-time artificial insemination (FTAI)

“…The cattle breed "Azores Lydia", a Lidia cattle bovine population, exhibits aggressive behavior when handled (Pacheco-Lima and Moreira da Silva, 2019a). This response to handling could be useful for selection based on behavioral traits associated with aggressiveness (Pacheco-Lima, et al 2019b), but it may also restrict contact with humans because this breed is reared in an extensive livestock production system.…”