Influences of nutrition during pregnancy and lactation on birth weights and growth to weaning of calves sired by Piedmontese or Wagyu bulls

Abstract

The aim of this study was to quantify the effects of nutrition during pregnancy and lactation on birth weight and growth to weaning of Piedmontese and Wagyu sired calves. This research was also conducted to provide animals for long-term studies on the consequences of growth early in life. During 2 breeding cycles, Hereford cows were managed within low or high pasture-based nutritional systems from about 80 days of pregnancy to parturition. During lactation, the calves and their dams remained on the low or high nutritional system or crossed over to the alternative system. From commencement of the nutritional treatment during pregnancy until parturition, and then during lactation, cows on low nutrition lost an average of 45 and 23 kg liveweight, respectively, and those on high nutrition gained 55 and 40 kg, respectively. Calves of Wagyu sires weighed less at birth (31.0 v 35.9 kg, s.e. = 0.31 kg) and weaning (182 v. 189 kg, s.e. = 2.26 kg) than those of Piedmontese sires. Calves of cows on low nutrition during pregnancy weighed less at birth than those of cows on high nutrition (32.5 v. 35.2 kg, s.e. = 0.32 kg). Low nutrition during pregnancy adversely influenced birth to weaning ADG (676 v. 759 g, s.e. = 9.2 g), weight gain (145 v. 160 kg, s.e. = 2.1 kg) and liveweight (177 v. 195 kg, s.e. = 2.3 kg) of calves at weaning. The nutritional system during lactation had greater effects on ADG (618 v. 816 g, s.e. = 9.2 g), weight gain (131 v. 174 kg, s.e. = 2.1 kg) and liveweight (164 v. 207 kg, s.e. = 2.3 kg) of calves at weaning than the nutritional system during pregnancy. Overall, the responses to the nutritional treatments were consistent for the progeny of both sire-genotypes.

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

“…Significant reductions in birth weight were caused by prolonged underfeeding of heifers from weaning until parturition (Wiltbank et al, 1965), and underfeeding of heifers and cows for the second and third trimesters (Ryley and Gartner, 1962;Hodge and Rowan, 1970;Freetly et al, 2000;Cafe et al, 2006b) or late pregnancy only (Hight, 1966;Tudor, 1972;Bellows and Short, 1978;Kroker and Cummins, 1979). The effect of nutritional restriction on birth weight was more pronounced in calves from heifers than those from cows when the period of restriction encompassed mid-and late gestation (Hennessy et al, 2002) rather than late gestation only (Tudor, 1972).…”

“…The net effects of maternal nutrition during pregnancy on the calf remain of practical significance to livestock producers, and influences of nutrition during mid-and late pregnancy or late pregnancy only on calf weaning weight have been consistently shown (e.g. Hight, 1966 and1968a;Cafe et al, 2006b;Stalker et al, 2006), irrespective of effects on foetal growth.…”

“…It includes findings from our recent studies on consequences of maternal nutrition (commencing between days 30 and 90 of gestation) and growth during pregnancy and to weaning of cattle sired by bulls of extreme genotypes for muscle and intramuscular fat development (Cafe et al, 2006a and2006b;Greenwood et al, 2006). Factors affecting growth and nutrition of the bovine foetus and milk-fed calf are also briefly described.…”

Consequences of prenatal and preweaning growth for feedlot growth, intake and efficiency of Piedmontese- and Wagyu-sired cattle

“…The subset of cattle and their management were described in detail by Greenwood et al (2006), and further details of the prenatal and preweaning treatments on the entire herd were provided by Cafe et al (2006). Briefly, the experimental design was a 2 (low and high birthweight groups) · 2 (slow and rapid preweaning growth groups) · 2 (Piedmontese and Wagyu sire genotypes) · 2 (2001-born heifer and 2002-born steer cohorts) factorial, with 9-11 cattle in each of the 16 cells within the design.…”

“…Progeny were selected based on birthweight and preweaning growth rate from multi-modal distributions achieved by imposition of low or high maternal nutrition during pregnancy and lactation (see Cafe et al 2006;Greenwood et al 2006). The objective was to achieve a 30% difference in birthweight and a 2-fold difference in preweaning growth rate between groups, these differences being representative of the extremes in prenatal and preweaning growth within the New South Wales North Coast region.…”