Des Moines, lowa Cattlemen
looking for ways to stay com
petitive in today’s beef industry
have to take advantage of the
latest technology available for
boosting performance.
Two tools they should include in
their management kit are im
planting calves to put on extra
pounds from birth to weaning, and
synchronizing estrus to con
centrate the breeding period and
subsequent calving period for
heifers and cows.
That was the essence of
messages delivered to animal
scientists by Dr. Dave Whittington
and Dr. Gene Deutscher at a
recent seminar sponsored by
Syntex Animal health, Inc.
The seminar preceded the
opening of the midwest section of
the American Society of Animal
Science meeting here.
Whittington is an extension beef
specialist at the South Dakota
State University Agricultural
Research and Extension Center.
Deutscher is an extension beef
specialist at the University of
Nebraska North Platte Ex
periment Station.
Whittington made his comments
New Tools Help Cattlemen Stay Competitive
regarding implanted calves based
on trials he conducted last summer
involving more than 600 steer and
more than 700 heifer calves. The
trials took place on three ranches
scattered throughout the state with
different herd genetics and dif
ferent management practices.
All calves involved in the trials
were implanted with one of three
implant products at first
processing. A fourth group was left
as a non-implanted control.
Calves were all born within a
short period of each other and gate
cut intb the specific implant or
control groups. None were from
first calf heifers.
Results varied some from ranch
to ranch. However, pooled results
from the three ranches showed an
advantage for the implanted
calves.
Steer calves implanted with
Synovex C, designed specifically
for calves, weighed 16.7 pounds
more at weaning than did calves in
the control group. Ralgro
implanted and Compudose
implanted steer calves weighed
13.5 and 6.5 pounds, respectively,
more than the controls.
Heifer calves showed a slightly
better response to the implants.
Those implanted with Synovex C
weighed 20.6 pounds more than the
controls. The Ralgro-implanted
heifers calves weighed 18.5 pounds
more.
None of the heifer calves were
implanted with Compudose since
the product is not cleared for use in
heifer calves.
The increased gains in the im
planted calves points to the value
of this management technique,
Whittington told the group.
Overall, the implanted calves
showed improved performance
compared with the non-implanted
controls despite the differences in
genetics and management among
the three ranches and the drought
induced, poor calf-growing con
ditions at two of the ranches.
Shortening the calving period as
much as possible for first-calf
heifers is crucial to successful
rebreeding of these females,
Deutscher told the animal
scientists. First-calf heifers need
time after calving to let their
bodies adjust so they’ll exhibit
strong estrus.
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The University of Nebraska beef
specialist said that synchronizing
estrus in heifers using a
prostaglandin can accomplish this
goal by shortening the breeding
period. Not only does this con
centrate the subsequent calving
season, there is some indication
synchronized heifers calve earlier
than those not synchronized.
Heifers in a trial he conducted
last summer using prostaglandins
calved about four days earlier this
spring than their non-synchronized
counterparts, he said.
Though most of Deutscher's
seven years of experience with
synchronization has involved A. 1.,
he indicated to the group that
synchronization also would help
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shorten the breeding and calving
periods when females are bred
naturally.
Deutscher believes that 30 days
is a realistic length for the
breeding period. A well managed
synchronization program should
let you get 90 percent of heifers
bred in 30 days, he said. In fact in
last summer’s trial using the
Bovilene brand prostaglandin, 88.3
percent of the synchronized heifers
in the trial were pregnant at the
end of 30 days.
Deutscher’s goal is to develop
simple methods of improving
reproduction in beef cattle. Heat
synchronization, when managed
properly, is one tod! for ac
complishing that goal, he said.
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