Avaliação biométrica do casco de cavalos de esporte das modalidades hipismo, tambor, laço comprido e pólo

Objetivou-se avaliar, através da biometria, os cascos dos membros anteriores de equinos participantes de provas de Hipismo Clássico, Tambor, Laço Comprido e Pólo. Em cada modalidade foram avaliados 30 indivíduos totalizando 120 animais. As mensurações lineares (cm) incluíram o comprimento dorsal da pinça, comprimentos lateral e medial dos quartos, altura medial e lateral dos quartos, comprimento lateral e medial dos talões, alturas lateral e medial dos talões, comprimento do casco, largura do casco, comprimento da ranilha, largura da ranilha, e as angulares (graus) foram relativas ao ângulo do casco medido pela pinça (podogoniometria), ângulo da quartela, ângulo dos talões, ângulo das paletas. O comprimento da ferradura, circunferência da coroa do casco e peso corporal também foram avaliados. Através da biometria do casco foi possível avaliar os desequilíbrios do membro anterior de animais atletas e os mais comuns foram: quebra do eixo podal, com 96,7% dos animais apresentando essa alteração no membro torácico direito (MTD) e 95,8% no membro torácico esquerdo (MTE); talões contraídos com 95,0% no MTD e 87,6% no MTE. A modalidade com os maiores desequilíbrios foi a de Laço Comprido, seguida pelos animais de Tambor. Foi encontrada uma alta frequência de desequilíbrio médio lateral em todas as modalidades desportivas. Conclui-se que animais utilizados em provas funcionais apresentam uma alta incidência de desequilíbrios podal nos membros torácicos.This study aimed to evaluate, through biometry, the forelimb hoof of horses participating in show jumping, barrel, long rope and polo competitions. Thirty subjects were assessed in relation to each competition (total of 120 animals). The linear measurements (cm) included the dorsal length of the toe; medial and lateral lengths of the quarter; medial and lateral heights of the quarter; lateral and medial lengths of the heel; medial and lateral heights of the heel; hoof length; hoof width; frog length; and frog width. The following angles (°) were measured: toe angle, pastern angle, heel angle and shoulder palette. The length of the horseshoe, coronet circumference and body weight were also assessed. With the use of hoof biometric evaluation was possible to identify the imbalances of forelimb in athletic horses and the most common were broken-backward hoof angle, with 96.7% of the animals showing this in the right forelimb (RFL) and 95.8% in the left forelimb (LFL); and contracted heels, with 95.0% in the RFL and 87.6% in the LFL. The competition type in which greatest numbers of hoof balance abnormalities were shown was the long rope, followed by the barrel. There were high frequencies of medial/lateral imbalance in all the sports. We conclude that animals used in functional tests have a high incidence of hoof balance abnormalities in the forelimbs

Effect of oleic-linoleic acid and ?-sitosterol to freezing extender of bulls and stallions semen

Addition of polyunsaturated fatty acids and/or cholesterol to a freezing diluent can modify the sperm plasma membrane composition, influencing its behavior during cryopreservation, thus, favoring seminal cryoresistance. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of the addition of oleic-linoleic acid, (OLA); ?-sitosterol (?-sit), a plant analog of cholesterol; and OLA + ?-sit in combination to a freezing diluent, on the cryopreservation bull and stallion semen. The following variables were analyzed: motility/vigor, plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity (by Trypan Blue/Giemsa staining), mitochondrial activity (by DAB staining), and lipid peroxidation (by a TBARS assays). The lipids were added according to experimental treatments: C – control group, A1 and A2 – OLA at concentrations of 37 ?M and 74 ?M, B1 and B2 – ?-sit at concentrations of 1 ?g mL-1 and 2 ?g mL-1; AB1 and AB2 – OLA 37 ?M + ?-sit 1 ?g mL-1 and OLA 74 ?M + ?-sit 2 ?g mL-1, respectively. The study was divided into three experiments; in Experiment 1, the concentrations of the groups A1, B1, and AB1 were evaluated, whereas in Experiment 2 the concentrations of the groups A2, B2, and AB2 were analyzed, both experiments were performed with bull semen. We conducted Experiment 3 using equine semen with the addition of lipids at all of the concentrations described. Data were subjected to analysis of variance, using the GLM procedure of SAS, with treatment means compared by Duncan test considering 5% significance. These variables differed significantly after thawing the semen post-collection. However, there was no significant difference between treatments when variables were compared within the same time point, except for Experiment 2, where there was a decrease in motility and vigor decrease post-thaw in the groups following ?-sit addition (C – 51.0 ± 13.7%/2.9 ± 0.4; B2 – 35.8 ± 15.8%/2.3 ± 0.6; AB2 – 38.5 ± 16.6%/2.5 ± 0.5, respectively; p < 0.05). In conclusion, the tested concentrations of these lipids did not confer greater cryoresistance to the spermatozoa, and were not effective in preserving the structural integrity of plasma and acrosomal membranes after thawing. Furthermore, there was no change in the mitochondrial activity and lipid peroxidation due to lipids addition

Human resources in artificial insemination of beef cattle: profile of managers and inseminators 1

ABSTRACT -The objective of the present study was to outline the profile of managers and inseminators involved in beef cattle artificial insemination programs to characterize the management processes involved in this activity. Additionally, by interviewing managers and inseminators, it was searched to detect particularities concerned to personal life and work that can be used to evaluate the quality of life of inseminators on farms. The open questions were analyzed by frequency of answer, after being grouped by similarity. Accordingly to the results, managers associate the concept of human resource management to work supervision, mainly, prioritizing technical factors such as professional experience and indexes in the selection processes, although problems in interpersonal relationships have been shown as the main reason for dismissal. In general, education level of the inseminators is not good because most of these workers studied only to the first series of primary school. Inseminators prefer conventional artificial insemination although they recognize that fixed-time artificial insemination can make animal handling on the farm easier. The performance of these workers seems to be determined more by interpersonal relationships than by the salaries

Human resources in artificial insemination of beef cattle: profile of managers and inseminators Recursos humanos na inseminação artificial em bovinos de corte: perfil dos administradores e inseminadores

The objective of the present study was to outline the profile of managers and inseminators involved in beef cattle artificial insemination programs to characterize the management processes involved in this activity. Additionally, by interviewing managers and inseminators, it was searched to detect particularities concerned to personal life and work that can be used to evaluate the quality of life of inseminators on farms. The open questions were analyzed by frequency of answer, after being grouped by similarity. Accordingly to the results, managers associate the concept of human resource management to work supervision, mainly, prioritizing technical factors such as professional experience and indexes in the selection processes, although problems in interpersonal relationships have been shown as the main reason for dismissal. In general, education level of the inseminators is not good because most of these workers studied only to the first series of primary school. Inseminators prefer conventional artificial insemination although they recognize that fixed-time artificial insemination can make animal handling on the farm easier. The performance of these workers seems to be determined more by interpersonal relationships than by the salaries.<br>Objetivou-se delinear o perfil de administradores e inseminadores envolvidos em programas de inseminação artificial em bovinos de corte no intuito de caracterizar os processos gerenciais envolvidos nesta atividade. Adicionalmente, por meio de entrevistas com administradores e inseminadores, buscou-se detectar fatores ligados à vida pessoal e ao trabalho que possam ser utilizados como medida da qualidade de vida dos inseminadores nas propriedades rurais. As questões abertas foram analisadas por frequência de respostas, depois de agrupadas por similaridade. De acordo com os resultados, os administradores associam o conceito de gestão de recursos humanos principalmente à supervisão do trabalho priorizando fatores técnicos como experiência profissional e índices nos processos de seleção, embora apontem os problemas de relacionamento interpessoal como principal motivo de demissão. Em geral, a escolaridade dos inseminadores é precária, pois a maioria desses trabalhadores possui apenas as séries iniciais do ensino fundamental. Os inseminadores preferem a inseminação convencional, embora reconheçam que a inseminação em tempo fixo facilita o manejo na fazenda. O desempenho destes profissionais parece ser determinado muito mais pelo relacionamento interpessoal que pelo salário