Article Title
Keywords
Cattlemen's Day, 1990; Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station contribution; no. 90-361-S; Report of progress (Kansas State University. Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service); 592; Beef; Heifers; Pregnancy; Intake; Digestibility; Winter range
Abstract
Six ruminally and eight bi-fistulated (ruminal and esophageal), 2-yr-old beef heifers were used to study the effects of pregnancy on forage intake and utilization under grazing conditions. During the third trimester of gestation, pregnant heifers ate more (P<.05) forage than nonpregnant heifers and maintained similar (P>.10) levels of organic matter and fiber digestibility. As calving neared, pregnant animals had higher (P<.05) rates of passage and tended to have lower ruminal capacity "¢(P=.15) and digesta fill (P=.14) than nonpregnant animals. Differences in quality of diet selected by the two groups were minimal.
First page
84
Last page
86
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Vanzant, E.S. and Cochran, R.C.
(1990)
"Effect of pregnancy on forage intake and utilization in spring-calving beef heifers wintered on flint hills range,"
Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Reports:
Vol. 0:
Iss.
1.
https://doi.org/10.4148/2378-5977.2265