Environmental factors influencing endocrine systems and cattle physiology
Management, hormones, and physiological outputs
In order to maximize production, modern farming practices call for intensive management of livestock. Management practices such as handling, weaning, housing conditions and transportation are essential to the well- being and production efficiency of cattle but are also major stressors which can cause a decrease in their productivity. Increased cortisol concentrations have been shown to in- crease anxiety-related activity [6,7], disease susceptibility [2] as well as decreased reproductive performance [8,9] of cows and for this reason cortisol is often used as a measure of stress. The effects of stress on productivity have been