Developing Efficient Beef Cattle Production
US - Reducing the amount of feed given to young female cows called heifers can result in more efficient use of nutrients for growth and reproduction, according to studies conducted by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
20 January 2011
2 minute read
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) animal scientist Andrew Roberts and his colleagues at the Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory in Miles City, Montana, found that the heifers they fed to lower target weights than those traditionally recommended consumed 27 per cent less feed over the winter months, and gained weight more efficiently throughout the postweaning period and subsequent grazing season. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.
According to Mr Roberts, this strategy of providing less feed may reduce costs of developing each replacement heifer by more than $31 and extend their lifespan, with important ramifications for lifetime efficiency and profitability. Feed represents 50 to 55 per cent of total costs of developing replacement heifers.
In their study, which begun in 2001, heifers were divided into two lifetime treatment groups: The control group was fed according to industry guidelines, and the restricted group was fed (on a body-weight basis) 80 per cent of feed consumed by their control counterparts for 140 days, ending when they were one year old. The restricted heifers grew slower and weighed less at any point in time as a consequence of less feed. Final pregnancy rates were 87 per cent for restricted heifers and 91 per cent for controls.
According to Mr Roberts, restricting feed allows nature to decide which heifers were reproductively efficient: Less efficient heifers would eventually fail to reproduce and be culled if restricted, whereas feeding more would keep them in production but result in more expense for the producer.
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