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The most important point in embryo transfer success is the evaluation of the stage of development and quality of embryos. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the morphological evaluation of embryos using stereoscopy, light microscopy and electron microscopy in order to establish the accuracy of former method compared with more invasive and accurate procedures. For this purpose, 23 Brahman x Swiss cows were used and synchronized with Norgestomet 6 mg plus, 5 mg Estradiol valerate (Syncromate B(R), Rhone Merieux, Mexico, Mexico City) and superovulated with Folltropin-V 240 mg (Vetrepharm, Mexico, Mexico City). Non-surgical embryo collection was performed 7.5 days after insemination. Descriptive statistics analysis was used to assess the data. Seventy-eight embryos were collected and classified by stereoscopic microscopy, finding 51.2% (40) of good quality, 25.6% (20) fair and 24.3% (19) poor. Later, under light microscopy observation, evaluation of the same embryos resulted in 25.6% (20) good, 32.0% (25) fair and 42.3% poor quality. Finally, in the evaluation of embryos under electron microscopy 24.3% (19) were found to be of good quality, 29.3% (23) fair and 46.1% (36) poor. Evaluation of embryos with stereoscopic microscopy was found to be very subjective, as nearly 50% of embryos classified by this method as good quality, showed features of degenerative stages under light and electron microscopy. Embryos with these features are generally frozen and transferred, which could be one of the reasons for having low fertility rate in embryo transfer programmes.

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of restricted suckling (RS) in dual-purpose cows and calves compared to artificial rearing (AR). Twelve Holstein-Zebu cows with calves were assigned to each treatment. Cows were milked once daily in the morning with calves present to stimulate milk let-down. RS calves suckled 30 min after milking and 30 min in the afternoon, whereas AR calves were milk-fed from nipple bottles. The daily saleable milk yield was higher in RS than in AR cows (p < 0.01; 7.44 vs 6.50 kg/day), whereas RS cows had lower milk-fat content (p < 0.001). AR cows had higher California Mastitis Test scores (p < 0.001) and lower lactose content (p < 0.001) compared to RS cows, which indicates an improved udder health in RS cows. AR calves displayed more 'cross-suck' during suckling/milk feeding (p < 0.001) and during observations of general behaviour (p < 0.05), and more 'lick and sniff interior' during milking (p < 0.05) and suckling/milk feeding (p < 0.01), compared to RS calves. During observations of general behaviour the RS calves were more often observed to 'walk' (p< 0.01) and 'lick self' (p < 0.05) and less frequently to 'eat concentrate' (p < 0.05) than AR calves. Results support the hypothesis that RS increases milk yield, influences milk composition and improves udder health in cows, and decreases abnormal sucking in calves.

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Family farming is still the main source of income for many people in the tropical regions of the world. At the same time, modern society is quickly becoming more aware of the welfare of animals for human consumption. The main objective of this study was to illustrate the need to modify certain aspects of the original Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocols developed by the EU-funded WQ project, under the conditions of small community farmers in the tropics. Thirty-four dual purpose farms in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, which had their main production focus on milk but for whom beef production was also of significant value, were evaluated utilising a merged version of the WQ protocols for dairy and beef cattle. Based on their average score, the farms obtained at least an acceptable level in each indicator of welfare. However, after merging indicators from the dairy and beef cattle protocols of WQ in order to adjust it to the prevailing conditions in the tropics, a number of sections are not applicable. This is particularly true of the section related to good housing, where most of the items do not apply due to the absence of infrastructure; the farms obtained a very high score in this section but further studies to verify whether this reflects an accurate assessment of the welfare status should be carried out. In general, the approach of the WQ protocol was useful, however certain aspects are quite different from the conventional intensive farming systems predominantly used in Europe and there is a need to implement a number of modifications.

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