Progressing towards dairy calves resilient to heat stress: Effects of epigenetics, housing, and management

Lead Applicant: Trevor DeVries

Research Priority: Competitive Production Systems

Program Type: Tier 1

Funding Cycle: 2024/2025

Research Centre: NA

Research Summary: Climate change is expected to impact dairy farms in Ontario and worldwide through increasing episodes of heat stress, which undermines productivity, animal welfare, and the dairy sector economy, even for intensively housed dairy herds located in colder and temperate climates. Early-life experiences, including the intrauterine thermal environment, profoundly influence fetal growth and development and exert long-term effects on postnatal disease and productivity. It is unknown if an epigenetic analysis at birth or weaning could act as a genomic indicator to identify heifers that were in utero heat stressed. This will be tested in this project, whereby additional impacts of early-life experiences (housing and management) on heat stress mitigation will also be investigated. The results from this work will allow for direct recommendations to be made to the dairy industry regarding genetic selection, housing, and management strategies to minimize the effect of climate-related stress on dairy calves.