Factors affecting the hourly distribution of calving in Holstein cows in a hot environment

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Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether hourly calvings in Holstein cows vary with calf gender, dystocia, stillbirth, gestation length, and heat stress at calving. Additionally, the monthly calving time of cows was predicted using an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. The parturition times of 29,410 Holstein cows recorded over seven years from a single herd were analyzed. More cows/heifers calved during daylight hours (57.5 %) than in darkness (42.5 %). On the day of calving, cows experiencing severe heat stress (THI > 84) on average calved 30 minutes later (P < 0.001) than cows not experiencing heat stress (THI < 70). Cows with gestations <277 days gave birth 24 minutes later (P < 0.05) than cows with gestation lengths between 279-281 days. On average, calving occurred six minutes earlier (P < 0.05) in cows carrying female calves compared to male calves. Cows giving birth to stillborn calves calved, on average, one hour later (P < 0.001) than those giving birth to live calves. Cows experiencing calving difficulty calved, on average, one hour later (P < 0.001) than cows with eutocic deliveries. The ARIMA model showed that deviations of calving hour from the overall mean were greater in summer and lower in winter. It was concluded that weather strongly influences the monthly calving rhythms in cows and heifers, and the ARIMA models reliably estimated the timing of parturition. Although various factors significantly affected birth frequency, these variations were not substantial enough to be of practical importance for managing pregnant Holstein cows.
Keywords: ARIMA; dystocia; gestation length; heat stress; stillbirth.

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Author Biography

Narciso Ysac Ávila, Sea University, Ciudad Universitaria 71980 Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca 70902, Mexico

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Published

2026-04-16

How to Cite

TREVIÑO, Nancy; MELLADO, Miguel; MORALES-CRUZ, Juan Luis; CONTRERAS, Viridiana; GARCIA, José Eduardo; ÁVILA, Narciso Ysac; MELLADO, Jesús. Factors affecting the hourly distribution of calving in Holstein cows in a hot environment. Brazilian Animal Science/ Ciência Animal Brasileira, Goiânia, v. 27, 2026. Disponível em: https://revistas.ufg.br/vet/article/view/84360. Acesso em: 21 apr. 2026.

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Vol. 27 (2026): Continuous publication

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ANIMAL SCIENCE

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