Effects of reduced in utero and post-weaning nutrition on glucose clearance measures and serum metabolites

Authors: Waterman, Richard; Petersen, Mark; Geary, Thomas; Vermeire, Lance

Submitted to: Agricultural Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/10/2018
Publication Date: 8/15/2018
Citation: Waterman, R.C., Petersen, M.K., Geary, T.W., Vermeire, L.T. 2018. Effects of reduced in utero and post-weaning nutrition on glucose clearance measures and serum metabolites. Agricultural Sciences. 9(8):947-957. https://doi.org/10.4236/as.2018.98066.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/as.2018.98066

Interpretive Summary: Extensive livestock production challenges producers to match available resources to requirements of livestock being raised in a given environment. Livestock producers in arid and semi-arid environments must adapt to current environmental conditions to maintain animal productivity. Production costs increase when harvested or purchased feeds need to be bought to achieve optimal production goals. The challenge for researchers is to develop management accepted approaches that result in minimal out of pocket costs. Current research efforts are being implemented to optimize nutrient utilization while not maximizing or meeting intake potential of grazing livestock yet optimizing the use of dietary nutrients to support serum metabolites going towards developing tissues. By not maximizing dietary intake but reducing the amount of supplementary harvested feeds during times of diminished forage quality the cost of production can be reduced, and the focus then shifts to the necessity of nutrient use by the animal and maintaining production goals. Current findings suggests that not only the reduction in supplemented feed during the in utero treatment period and the designed 20% reduction in harvested feed input during post-weaning development (on a common body weight basis) greatly influenced production. If fact the reduction in feed during heifer development ultimately resulted in a 27% decrease in overall feed input for heifers developed in the LAL group. This data along with previous research conducted within this management regime not only indicate similar biological responses but an approach to decrease production cost and maintain an optimal level of production for producers.

Technical Abstract: Lowering production costs while maintaining an optimal level of production is important to producers in extensive environments. Efforts that strive to match the environment to the nutritional requirements of the grazing animal will substantially improve economic returns to the producer. To address this issue, we conducted a 3-yr study measuring glucose clearance measures along with weekly serum metabolites in primiparous beef heifers (n = 48; 16/yr reared under two different feeding regimens) raising steer calves. Cows received adequate 1.8 (ADEQ) or marginal 1.2 (MARG) kg/d winter supplementation for approximately 80 d prior to parturition and their heifer calves were then randomly assigned to heifer development treatments that provided ad-libitum (AL) or 80% of ad-libitum (LAL) feed post weaning. Heifers developed on the AL treatment also received 1.8 kg/d winter supplementation for life, whereas heifers developed on the LAL treatment received 1.2 kg/d winter supplementation for life. Peak glucose concentrations in response to a bolus dose of glucose changed in magnitude between ADEQ and MARG in utero treatments and decreased further removed from parturition (P = 0.05). However, these changes did not manifest along with other glucose clearance measures (P > 0.17) indicating that regardless of in utero treatment or heifer development treatment the reduction in feed input did not greatly influence glucose clearance measures or baseline serum metabolites throughout postpartum, first parity period.