Cause and Effect Relationships Associated with Calving Difficulty and Calf Birth Weight

Bellows, R. A.; Short, R. E.; Anderson, D. C.; Knapp, Bradford; Pahnish, O. F.

doi:10.2527/jas1971.332407x

Cited by 153 publications

(67 citation statements)

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“…Spitzer et al (1995) and Winterholler et al (2012) reported that increasing cow BCS during late gestation increased calf birth weight. In addition, lower calf birth weights have been documented from cows with lower body weight and/or decreased precalving nutrient intake (Bellows et al, 1971;Bellows and Short, 1978;Corah et al, 1975). Therefore, the improved energy status of the HBCS compared with the LBCS cows prior to study initiation may have ameliorated the potential negative effects on calf birth weight resulting from the lower energy status of the LBCS cows.…”

Section: Calf Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Late gestation supplementation of beef cows differing in body condition score: Effects on cow and calf performance1,2

Bohnert

Stalker²,

Mills

et al. 2013

Journal of Animal Science

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A 2-yr study utilizing 120 mature, crossbred (Angus × Herford) cows/year, evaluated the influence of cow BCS and dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) supplementation during late gestation on cow performance and productivity of subsequent offspring. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial in a randomized complete block design with 2 BCS and with or without DDGS supplementation. Cows were nutritionally managed to enter the last trimester of gestation with a BCS of approximately 4 (LBCS) or 6 (HBCS) and were thereafter managed in a single herd (initial BCS were 4.4 and 5.7 for LBCS and HBCS treatments, respectively). During the last trimester, 12.7 kg/cow of low quality meadow hay (6.4% CP; DM basis) was provided each day. Supplemented cows were gathered and sorted into pens (12 pens; 5 cows/pen; 6 pens/BCS) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and received the equivalent of 0.9 kg/cow daily of DDGS (31% CP; DM basis; supplement was consumed within 30 min on each supplementation day). Calf birth weight was greater for HBCS compared to LBCS (P = 0.001) and for supplemented compared to nonsupplemented cows (P = 0.04). Cow weight at weaning was greater for HBCS compared with LBCS (P < 0.001); however, no differences were noted because of supplementation (P = 0.16). Weaning weight was greater for the offspring of supplemented compared to nonsupplemented cows (P = 0.02). There were no differences in postweaning calf performance (growing lot and feedlot) or carcass characteristics (P > 0.05) due to treatments. Nevertheless, HBCS cows had approximately 10% more live calves at birth and at weaning (P ≤ 0.01) compared to LBCS cows. Consequently, the total weaned calf weight per cow was 26 kg greater for HBCS compared with LBCS (P = 0.004). Pregnancy rate was greater (P = 0.05) for HBCS than LBCS cows (92% vs. 79%, respectively) but not affected by supplementation (P = 0.94). This research demonstrates the potential consequences of not maintaining cows in adequate BCS at calving. Also, though it appears that supplementation of beef cows with DDGS during late gestation has a positive effect on weaning weight, there was no apparent developmental programming effect on feedlot performance and carcass characteristics of calves.

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Section: Calf Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Late gestation supplementation of beef cows differing in body condition score: Effects on cow and calf performance1,2

Bohnert

Stalker²,

Mills

et al. 2013

Journal of Animal Science

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“…Generally, there is a close correlation between the calf's birth weight (BW) and the probability of dystocia (Bellows et al, 1971a and1971b;Laster, 1974;Anderson and Bullock, 2000;Wang et al, 2000;Zollinger and Hansen, 2003), as it explains around 50% of the variability in the frequency of difficult calvings (Meijering, 1984;Freking, 2000). Johanson and Berger (2003) demonstrated that the odds of dystocia increased by 13% by every kilogram increase of BW.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of body measurements of newborn purebred Belgian Blue calves

Kolkman

Opsomer

Aerts

et al. 2010

Animal

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At calving, purebred animals of the Belgian Blue (BB) breed are compromised by the incompatibility in size and shape of the dam and her calf, resulting in a very high incidence of dystocia problems. To clarify which body parts of the calf are of decisive importance to allow natural delivery and to investigate both the mean value as well as the variation among these body sizes within this breed (variation being an important condition for selection), measurements of nine body parts (body weight at birth (BW), body length (BL), length of the head (LH), shoulder width (SW), hip width (HW), heart girth (HG), withers height (WH) and the circumference of the fetlock of both the front (CFF) and the hind leg (CFH)) were assessed in 147 newborn purebred BB calves on 17 farms. Simple and partial correlations were assessed and we examined whether environmental factors (gender of the calf, parity of the cow, type of calving, season of birth and time of measurement after birth) were significantly associated with these specific calf measurements. The mean BW was 49.2 6 7.1 kg. The average BL was 56.4 6 4.5 cm and the mean LH was 24.4 6 2.3 cm. Measurements obtained for SW and HW were 22.4 6 2.2 and 22.9 6 2.1 cm, respectively, whereas the mean WH was 71.1 6 4.7 cm. Measurements of circumferences revealed a CFF of 17.9 6 1.1 cm, a CFH of 18.0 6 1.0 cm and a mean HG of 78.0 6 5.4 cm. Partial correlations of the BW with eight body measurements were significant (P , 0.01) and ranged between 0.17 and 0.85; 0.42 and 0.88; and 0.24 and 0.88 when corrected for gender, parity and type of calving, respectively. BL (P , 0.01) and the CFF and CFH (P , 0.001) are larger in bull calves than in heifer calves. Calves born through caesarean section had broader SW (P , 0.01) and HW (P , 0.01) when compared with calves born after natural calving (defined as born per vaginam without assistance or with slight traction). Sizes of calves born out of multiparous cows were generally larger than of calves born out of heifers (SW: P , 0.001; HW: P , 0.05). As SW and HW are the broadest points of a BB calf, they are both candidates for being the limiting measures for calving ease, but the difference between HW and SW for the total data set was not different from zero (P . 0.05). In contrast to male calves in which no significant difference (between HW and SW) could be found, female calves show the difference between HW and SW that was significantly different from zero (P , 0.001); thus, in female calves, the HW is the most limiting factor of the calf's body. The significant variation in some body measures between the calves and the strong correlation within these sizes raises the possibility of selection towards smaller calves aiming to limit the dystocia problem in the BB breed. Furthermore, on the basis of our results, we were able to build equations for the farmer to use at the moment of calving containing the LH, the CF and the calf's gender to estimate SW and HW, the limiting body parts of the calf to be born naturally. Together with the knowledge o...

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“…Selection efficiency can be assessed by direct response of the characteristics included in the selection index and responses correlated with economically important characteristics, such as birth weight (BW) and mature weights (MW) of cows, which are not included in the selection index. Monitoring these characteristics through genetic tendency and redirecting the selection criteria, if necessary, is of great importance for livestock profitability, as increase in birth weight is directly related to the increase indystocic delivery incidence (BELLOWS et al, 1971) and increase in cows' mature weight results in increased maintenance costs (DICKERSON, 1978). Thus, evaluating the impact of selection programs, growth characteristics, and weight gain on the herd frame size is essential.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic trends for mature body weight, visual scores, and growth traits in Nellore cattle

Júnior¹,

Roso²,

Claus³

et al. 2017

Cienc. Rural

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Mature weight (MW) of cows is related to the costs of their production. Usually, cows with moderate MW are more efficient in challenging environments, such as those available in the production systems in Brazil. In the present study, the selection index comprises the following traits: conformation, finishing precocity, musculature at weaning (WC, WP, WM) yearling (YC, YP and YM), scrotal circumference at yearling (SC), days to gain 160kg from birth to weaning (D160) and 240kg after weaning (D240). This are related to birth weight gain at weaning (WG) and from weaning to yearling (YG). The mature (MW) and birth weight (BW) traits were not considered in the selection index. The aim of this study was to estimate the values for the genetic trends (GT) of some important selection (MW) and economic traits (BW). A bi-character analysis of MW and other characteristics was performed to estimate the (co)variance components and genetic parameters. The GT results obtained for MW were null (0.0065% or 0.02718kg per year) in the period 1990-2007. The GT values were determined for BW (-0.0650% or -0.02017kg), WG (0.0758% or 0.0865kg), YG (0.1051% or 0.11377kg), and MW (0.0393% or 0.11276kg) per year. The visual score values (in score units) were also determined for GTat weaning [WC (0.2310%; 0.00707), WP (0.3624%; 0.3623%),aWM (0.01149; 0.01087)] yearling [YC (0.3256%; 0.00990), YP (0.4795%; 0.01496),YM (0.5041%; 0.01457)] per year. Index-based selection was effective to promote genetic progress in WG, WC, WP, WM, YG, YC, YP, and YM characteristics keeping BW and MW constant.

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Cause and Effect Relationships Associated with Calving Difficulty and Calf Birth Weight

Cited by 153 publications

References 0 publications

Late gestation supplementation of beef cows differing in body condition score: Effects on cow and calf performance1,2

Late gestation supplementation of beef cows differing in body condition score: Effects on cow and calf performance1,2

Analysis of body measurements of newborn purebred Belgian Blue calves

Genetic trends for mature body weight, visual scores, and growth traits in Nellore cattle

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