Finding out the Most Representative Variables in Organizing and Managing Dairy Cattle Reproduction
Abstract
A five-point scale survey with a Likert response format (1976) was anonymously answered by 35 experts in livestock reproduction from Camagüey province, Cuba, in order to determine the most representative variables in organizing and managing dairy cattle reproduction. A reliability test (Cronbach’s alpha index = 0,89) and a cluster analysis were performed to evaluate and validate the survey results. Experts considered birth number, birth rate, pregnant females, and on-reproduction females the most outstanding variables, while no consensus was registered on non-pregnant females, no-calving index, and off-production females criteria. Reproduction indexes for data analysis, decision making, and predictions scored a lower mark compared to on-production females, reproductive categories (except non-pregnant and off-production females), and estrus detection variables (females gathering at first estrus and at every estrus). Based on the survey results, the latter constitute the most representative variables in organizing and managing dairy cattle reproduction in Camagüey province.
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References
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