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Submitted to: Western Beef Producer
Publication Type: Popular Publication Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Work summarized from the literature and results of studies at LARRL indicate time of feeding has some effect on time of day the calf is born. Overall, results agree that producers can potentially shift 10 to 15% of the births out of the midnight to 6 a.m. time period by feeding in the evening. This result is positive since it should reduce the work load occurring during an "undesirable" time period. However, evening feeding will not eliminate all calvings during the undesirable time period so producers must continue to check for calving problems over the entire 24 hours. We believe that the effect of feeding on calving time may be a result of an antagonism between the increased body temperature following eating tending to counteract the fall in body temperature that precedes calving. Technical Abstract: Work summarized from the literature and results of studies at LARRL indicate time of feeding has some effect on time of day the calf is born. Overall, results agree that producers can potentially shift 10 to 15% of the births out of the midnight to 6 a.m. time period by feeding in the evening. This result is positive since it should reduce the work load occurring during an "undesirable" time period. However, evening feeding will not eliminate all calvings during the undesirable time period so producers must continue to check for calving problems over the entire 24 hours. We believe that the effect of feeding on calving time may be a result of an antagonism between the increased body temperature following eating tending to counteract the fall in body temperature that precedes calving. |
