Assessing temperature and humidity conditions for dairy cattle in Córdoba, Argentina

Abstract

Temperature and humidity conditions affect livestock production in Central Argentina. This study evaluates the risk of thermal stress affecting dairy production. The temperature-humidity index (THI) was used to analyze the regional and seasonal effects of temperature and humidity. Statistically, the THI was found to be normally distributed. The probability of occurrence of a daily THI higher than 72 was 40% for Río Cuarto during January. Regional variability of THI indicates a low risk of harmful extreme thermal stress conditions. The probability of THI being 78 or above ranges between 4% and 10% for the main dairy region of Córdoba during January. Also, in January and February, dairy production losses between 3 and 4 l cow(-1) day(-1) could be expected with a frequency of 5% in Río Cuarto and 15% in Villa de María de Río Seco.

Characterizing heat stress on livestock using the temperature humidity index (THI)—prospects for a warmer Caribbean

“…Jini et al (2015) examined variations in temperature and RH in different climatological areas in NE India and highlighted the need for poultry farmers and extension personnel to know the critical periods of the year when management of heat stress becomes essential for their locations. This was also noted by Du Preez et al (1990) in South Africa and de la Casa and Ravelo (2003) in Argentina for dairy cattle and Somparn et al (2004) in Thailand for cattle and buffalo.…”

“…Factors such as period of day, duration of heat stress, accumulated heat stress (known as THI hours), correlation with animal behaviour, and extent of recovery periods also play important roles in the heat stress actually experienced by livestock (Kadzere et al 2002;de la Casa and Ravelo 2003;Ajakaiye et al 2011;Hernández et al 2011). …”

Dynamics of the temperature-humidity index in the Mediterranean basin

“…Previous animal biometeorology studies have utilized THI to characterize the region of Córdoba in central Argentina (De la Casa and Ravelo 2003), and the northeast region of Thailand (Somparn et al 2004). To the best of our knowledge, the Mediterranean basin has been characterized by focusing the attention on air temperature and precipitation dynamics (Brunetti et al 2000;Klein Tank and Können 2003;Xoplaki et al 2004Xoplaki et al , 2005Touchan et al 2005;Scherrer et al 2006;Pauling and Paeth 2007), whereas no studies have been performed by utilizing THI.…”

Determination of potential risk of heat stress of cattle in four locations of Central and Southern Chile

“…These equations were chosen because the latitude at which the equations were obtained is comparable with the locations herein evaluated (ranging from 35 to 40 degrees). The Argentinean equation was developed by Valtorta et al (1999) and reported by de la Casa and Ravelo (2003), milk production (L*cow -1 *day -1 ) = 40.51 -0.2524*THI. The Tunisian equation was developed by Bouranoui et al (2002), milk production = 47.729 -0.4129*THI, expressed in (kg*cow -1 *day -1 ).…”