Figure 2.

Plasma glucose (a), NEFA (b), β-hydroxybutyric acid (c), and insulin (d) of heat-stressed (○) and cooled (■) cows during the dry period (adapted from Tao et al. [2012] and do Amaral et al. [2011]). All cows were housed in the same free-stall barn during summer. The stall areas for cooled cows were equipped with active cooling (soakers and fans) but those for heat-stressed cows were not. There were no differences in circulating plasma glucose, NEFA, β-hydroxybutyric acid, and insulin between treatments, suggesting that heat stress did not alter systemic metabolism of the cow during the dry period.