Post-calving nutrition of single-suckled Angus beef cows

Abstract

The post-partum performance of Angus single-suckled beef cows calving in the spring, and that of their calves, was observed in a series of five experiments in 1971–1975, with 50, 48, 52, 83, and 86 cows in each year respectively. A sawdust pad was used on which cows were confined so that their nutrition could be controlled. In the first four experiments (1971–1974) all cows allocated to the sawdust pad on the lower level of nutrition remained there until the middle of September when the mean calf age was approximately 30 days. In the fifth experiment (1975) cows allocated to the sawdust pad were removed with their calves when these were at one of three ages: 1 day old, or 20 or 40 days old. With the exception of an increase in calving interval of 20 days (P < 0.01) after low post-calving nutrition in Experiment 3 (1973), there did not appear to be any effect on production variables in Experiments 1–4, despite post-calving weight losses of up to 15% based on the pre-calving live weight of the cows. In Experiment 5 no advantage was shown in feeding cows well immediately post-partum, as those fed at lower levels 20 and 40 days after calving performed equally as well as the better-fed animals.