Effects of dam nutrition on growth and reproductive performance of heifer calves1

Prenatal and pre-weaning growth and nutrition of cattle: long-term consequences for beef production

“…When compared at equivalent feedlot entry live weights, differences in feed intake due to birth weight were no longer apparent, consistent with findings in twin cattle, which tended to consume less feed in feedlot than singletons, due primarily to their lower live weight (De Rose and Wilton, 1991). Similarly, provision of supplement to cows for 3 months pre-partum had no significant post-weaning effects on ADG, feed intake and feed efficiency in steers (Stalker et al, 2006) or heifers (Martin et al, 2007) that were individually fed following weaning, although the heifers of supplemented cows tended to have greater absolute and residual feed intakes during individual feeding for 84 days post-weaning.…”

“…Consistent with these findings, when variation in live weight that contributed to differences in energy requirements for maintenance and growth were accounted for, low pre-weaning growth rates did not influence measures of efficiency in the feedlot of cattle of equivalent age compared with those grown more rapidly prior to weaning (Hennessy and Arthur, 2004). Furthermore, effects of early post partum nutrition on growth, intake and efficiency of steers (Stalker et al, 2006) and heifers (Martin et al, 2007) in the feedlot soon after weaning were not evident. These results are consistent with earlier findings, reviewed by Berge (1991), that feed conversion efficiency is little affected in the long term by nutrition prior to weaning.…”

“…Growth of well nourished, artificially reared calves and feed efficiency after weaning have been shown to be influenced by gender following maternal nutritional restriction . The results of Stalker et al (2006) and Martin et al (2007) also suggest differences between genders in the efficiency of nutrient utilisation following divergent maternal nutrition during late pregnancy. However, few interactions between gender and nutrition early in life have been demonstrated for subsequent body and carcass characteristics, with these relating mainly to bone growth .…”

“…This need for further research extends to consequences of nutrition and growth early in life for subsequent reproductive performance, which has been recently shown to be affected in heifers by nutrition of their dams during late pregnancy (Martin et al, 2007), although neither reproductive or lactational performance were affected by birth weight (Swali and Wathes, 2006).…”

Feeding dried distillers grains with solubles to lactating beef cows: impact of excess protein and fat on cow performance, milk production and pre-weaning progeny growth

“…However, when excess protein was fed in combination with additional dietary fat during the last 100 days of gestation and first 100 days of lactation in beef cows, as is the case when DDGS is fed, altered energy partitioning occurs in the cow and reproductive performance was improved (Gunn et al, 2014). It has been proposed that fat supplementation (Santos et al, 2008); fatty acid composition, specifically polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs; Mattos et al, 2000); and type of protein, specifically rumen protein (RUP; Martin et al, 2007), or a combination of both fat and protein (Engel et al, 2008) improve reproductive performance. Gunn et al (2014) also reported increased dystocia rates in cows fed large amounts of DDGS during gestation and lactation.…”