Pelvimetria e escore de dificuldade de parto em vacas da raça Holandesa

Abstract

Dystocias can cause numerous losses inside the herd, such as: losses related to the parturient, the calf and with economic consequences like reduction in the milk yield, reduction of fertility, premature cull of cows and additional expenses with veterinary services. The fetus-pelvis incompatibility is the cause of calving difficulties in literature. The objective of this experiment was the measurement of the external and internal pelvic region of Holstein cows, besides the evaluation of its possible influence upon difficulty of birth presented by them, through the comparison between real observations and the usage of the Predicted Calving Difficulty Score. 236 Holstein cows were evaluated, between second and sixth birth order; their parturitions and respective calves. General corporeal, external and internal region measurements were done, using the pattern ruler and the Rice Pelvimeter®. The averages of the most important corporeal measures were: weight 696.88 kg; body length 1.56 m; body score 3.72. The average of the pelvis measures were: hook width 49.27 cm; pelvic width 18.62 cm; pelvic height 19.92 cm. The correlation estimated between corporeal extern measures and intern pelvic from the pelvis were of low intensity. The Predicted Calving Difficulty Score showed effective in the retratation of the difficulty degrees between natural births, degrees 1, 2 and 3, indicating that this can be a useful tool in order to avoid problems arising from dystocias inside the herd