Effects of environmental and other stressors on blood hormone patterns in lactating animals

Recent data on various environmental stressors and blood hormone patterns are presented for lactating cattle. Known stressor effects of such factors as environmental temperature, air pollution, and noise on the plasma thyroxine, growth hormone, cortisol, prolactin, progesterone, luteinzing hormone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine of lactating cattle are discussed. Information on stressor effects is lacking on glucagon, insulin, vasopressin, calcitonin, oxytocin, thyrotrophic hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, melatonin, parathyroid hormone, and estrogens in the lactating cow. The importance of evaluating both the effect of environmental stressor and of production or lactation intensity is emphasized in the overall interpretation of changes in hormone of plasma. The short and long term environmental heat effects on thyroxine, cortisol, and growth hormone are clear with initial increased due to acute stressors and a decline of amounts in plasma after prolonged exposure to stressors. The relationship of amounts in plasma of these hormones to milk production appears to be related directly for cortisol, growth hormone, and prolactin with an inverse relationship with thyroxine. Epinephrine and norepinephrine seem to be elevated with prolonged environmental heat stress. However, the influence of intensity of lactation has not been measured. Hormones in plasma as they relate to stressor effects and milk production are important as potential indicators of the physiological state of a cow and reflect the physiological compensations a cow undergoes at various lactation intensities and/or stress exposure.