TITLE:
Influence of early weaning beef cows on the performance of male progeny and the need for winter protein supplementation
AUTHORS:
Donald Llewellyn, Emily Schlickau, Twig Marston, Karl Harborth, Ryan Breiner, John Unruh, Michael Dikeman
KEYWORDS:
Early Weaning; Beef Cows; Bulls; Steers; Protein Supplementation
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.4 No.12,
December
25,
2013
ABSTRACT: One hundred and three Hereford × Angus crossbred, spring-calving cows were used to determine the influence of early weaning performance of their male progeny and the need for cowherd winter supplementation. Treatments were early weaned (EW; 115-d of age) and normal weaned calves (NW; 220-d of age). Both intact and castrated male progeny were randomly allotted to early and normal weaning calf management treatments. Following summer grazing and weaning protocols, cows within each weaning group were randomly assigned to receive winter supplementation treatments of LOW (1.26 kg/hd/d) or HIGH (1.81 kg/hd/d) amounts of a protein supplement containing 450 g/kg CP (DM basis). Cows whose calves were weaned early gained more BW and BCS (P P P P = 0.04) BCS but similar (P = 0.74) BW when compared with cows with normally weaned calves that received 100% of their supplement (NWHIGH). Early weaning has the potential to reduce the amount of supplement required during the winter grazing period.