The effects of various planes of nutrition upon the cost of maintenance, reproduction, and development of beef cows

Abstract

The frequency with which valuable animals reproduce themselves has always been a factor of economic importance in the pure bred cattle business. Great economic changes during the last few years have made this an important factor in the grade cattle business as well. When the cost of maintaining a cow for a year was far less and the value of the calf not nearly so great, the annual percentage of calves produced by a herd of grade cows was not a matter of so much importance. The dry cows would fatten, and often the difference in value between a fat dry cow and a cow with calf at side was not great. At present, with higher maintenance cost and greater calf values, the calf crop percentage is one of the most important factors in determining the financial returns from a herd of grade cows. It was with the view of studying the effects of nutrition upon reproduction that this work was undertaken.