The effects of weaning age (90 days or 156 days) of female beef calves were evaluated on their subsequent performance from the beginning of the first pregnancy and the end of the second breeding season, at 22/24 months of age. During pregnancy, heifers were managed as a single group on Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu pasture; after calving, on bristle oats (Avena strigosa Schreb) and ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.); and on Brachiaria humidicula pasture during the second reproductive period. The characteristics […]

The influence of the early weaning, on average 77 days after the birth, or the conventional weaning, on average 147 days on beef heifer development was evaluated. One hundred and sixty-one Braford calves, born in 2004, 2005 and 2006 were kept after weaning on cultivated summer (Pennisetum americanum) and winter/spring (Avena strigosa Schreb and Lolium multiflorum Lam) cultivated pastures. Body weight, daily Body weight gain and body condition were assessed every 28 days. There was interaction between weaning age and […]

The objective of the study was to evaluate, for two consecutive years, the weaning age effect on the reproductive performance of 121 Bradford heifers mated at 13/15 months old. Two weaning ages were assessed: at 77 days, early weaning (EW) or at 147 days, conventional weaning (CW). The heifers were born in 2004 (66) and 2005 (55). After weaning, heifers were kept initially on cultivated summer pasture (Pennisetum americanum, L.) and afterward on cultivated winter/spring pasture (Avena strigosa Schreb plus […]

The effect was assessed of pre-mating supplementary feeding on the reproductive performance of 13-15 month old beef heifers. Eighty-nine heifers were used with a mean age of 12 months and mean body weight (BW) of 242 kg from three herds Aberdeen Angus heifers from the Santa Cecilia and Capitao Rodrigo ranches and crossbred Aberdeen Angus heifers) in a feeding system of only grazing pasture or supplemented heifers on pasture with milled corn grain. The supplement was offered daily at the […]

An experiment was carried out to study the influence of the body condition score at birth on blood metabolites of goats in early lactation. Sixty-eight goats were placed in three groups according to the body condition score (BCS) at parturition: from 1.00 to 2.75 (thin animals); 2.75 and 3.50 (intermediate body condition) and from 3.50 to 5.00 (fat animals). The experimental was carried out in the first sixty days of lactation and blood sampling started after parturition at weekly intervals […]

The objective of this work was to evaluate the feed systems for 70 primiparous beef heifers from the initial gestation period at the age of 13/15 months to the end of the second reproductive period as primiparous cows at 22/24 months of age. The experimental design was fully random with plots subdivided in time considering animals as replicates. The initial mean live weigh was 282 kg and the initial mean body condition was 3.2. The feeding systems were proposed to […]

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the development of 32 primiparous beef heifers Aberdeen Angus and Angus crossbred raised and mating from 13 to the 15 months of age. The experiment had beginning in the pregnancy diagnosis of using ultra-sound technique, realized at 28 days after the ending of the reproductive period. The initial average weight and body condition (BC) was 288 kg LW and 3.2 points, respectively. In this occasion, the beef heifers were uniformly distributed by genetic […]

The objective of this work was to evaluate the development post weaning and the reproductive performance at 13/15 months old of 56 Hereford and 52 Braford female calves, with average body weight of 126 kg, body condition score of 2.5 and six months old. The animals were kept in natural pasture (CN) during 45 days and after this period, allotted to three feeding systems (SA) for a period of 80 days (06/01/2001 to 08/20/2001): CN + FA – supplementation of […]

The research evaluated the effects of the creep-feeding on the productive and reproductive performance of the primiparous cows, maintained on improved natural pasture with ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), white clover (Trifolium repens Lam.) and cornichão (Lotus corniculatus Lam. cv. São Gabriel). A completely randomized experimental design composed by four treatments according to 2 x 2 factorial arrangement (two sex: cows suckling male or female calves; two systems of feeding: cows suckling male or female with or without access creep-feeding, totalizing […]

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effect of ewe pre-partum supplementation and weaning age on performance of lambs. Forth-four Ile de France x Bergamasca ewes that were mated with Ile de France rams were used in this trial. Animals were maintained in a rotational grazing system of Panicum maximum (cv. Tanzânia) pasture until 30 days before parturition. Ewes were then divided in two groups: supplemented (SUPL) and not-supplemented (NS); animals on the SUPL group were supplemented (1% […]