Modelling the Effect of Heat Stress on the Performance of Swiss Dairy Cows

A Big Data Statistical Analysis

💡 Abstract

Climate change is increasingly contributing to higher average temperatures which lead to frequent and severe heat waves across the globe. These shifts can intensify heat stress in dairy cows and might adversely affect milk production and component yields. However, the degree of heat tolerance among dairy cow breeds has not been extensively studied in commercial production settings within Switzerland. Existing research has largely focused on a limited number of breeds in grassland-based systems outside of Switzerland. Using a comprehensive dataset comprising over 130 million records from the three major dairy cow breeding associations in Switzerland, we investigated the effect of weather on milk yield and energy-corrected milk yield across six dairy cow breeds, providing an unparalleled analysis in terms of scale and scope.

🔗 Citation

@mastersthesis{schneuwly2024,
  author      = {Schneuwly, Arno},
  title       = {Modelling the Effect of Heat Stress on the Performance of Swiss Dairy Cows - A Big Data Statistical Analysis},
  date        = {2024-10-16},
  institution = {Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich},
  url         = {https://ascheuw.github.io/heatstress},
  langid      = {en}
}