INTERRUPCIÓN TEMPORAL DEL AMAMANTAMIENTO: UNA ESTRATEGIA REPRODUCTIVA PARA REDUCIR EL INTERVALO ENTRE PARTOS EN GANADO CEBUINO (Bos indicus)

In beef herds, reproductive efficiency is fundamental to farm profitability. The temporary restricted suckling (ITA) is a reproductive protocol aimed at inducing early postpartum ovulation by temporarily restricting calf suckling in order to improve the reproductive efficiency of the herd. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of the ITA protocol on calving interval (IEP) and weaning weight at 210 days (PD210) in Brahman cattle (Bos indicus). A total of 503 IEP records and 486 PD210 records were used. Of the IEP records, 114 were obtained from cows that remained with their calves from birth until weaning (permanent suckling), while 389 (for IEP) and 372 (for PD210) records corresponded to cows subjected to the ITA reproductive protocol. An analysis of variance was performed using the GLM procedure, and means were compared using Tukey's test in R software. The model considered the effect of suckling type and cow age at calving as linear and quadratic covariates. Additionally, for the PD210 evaluation, the effects of calf sex, season, and year of birth were considered. The results showed that the ITA group reduced the IEP by an average of 17 days without affecting the PD210 of the calves. ITA proved to be an appropriate reproductive strategy to promote a decrease in IEP without affecting weaning weight. In conclusion, this reproductive protocol was influenced by cow age at calving, being effective in cows with fewer than nine calvings.