A new era of calf prices has brought amazing revenue for cow-calf producers. Immediate income opportunities incentivize cattlemen to sell their weaned calves, meaning a greater number of heifers are destined for the cattle feeding sector. Collectively, the cow herd hasn’t expanded as quickly as projected, ushering in amazing value for the replacement female.
Like any valuable asset you may own, protecting your genetics with quality nutrition and management can help producers get the most out of their retained females. Longevity is key to success in this business. With minimal incentive to grow the cow herd, it’s time to explore all of the technologies available to produce high-quality, sufficient levels of beef with the lowest cow numbers in decades.
Maximizing longevity is dependent upon getting your replacement heifers bred up early enough to calve by 2 years old. Research has shown the long-term negative impacts of late-calving heifers on their productivity and stayability as a mature cow. Fertility is paramount, but it’s a hard single trait to select for, due to its low heritability. Add in the fact that reproduction is biologically nonessential for survival, and it’s no surprise that any nutritional or health insult to a growing heifer can prevent her from effectively breeding.
Missing cycles takes away substantial dollars from our weaned calf market next year and puts the replacement herself at risk of falling out of the herd thereafter. Collectively, it’s our job to protect cattle from any stressors that can impact their lifetime productivity in the herd.
Heifers need to stay healthy to breed. However, the immune system requires an exorbitant amount of nutrition when activated, and is responsible for anestrous, early-term abortions and more. The first thing that comes to mind when talking about herd well-being is effective vaccination protocols. Many are effective promotors of acquired immunity in your animals, but did you know that more than 70% of the immune system can be found in the gut? Hence, researchers have focused their efforts on evaluating the positive relationship between gut health and overall immune function.
It may be time to take an unorthodox, proactive approach to the well-being of our developing heifers. Products such as prebiotics are designed to improve the number and activity of beneficial bacteria in the rumen and gastrointestinal tract. Competitive exclusion by promoting the good bugs and maintaining a stable rumen pH can help eliminate pathogens and their negative effects on reproductive function.
Just like a late-night infomercial would claim, that’s not all for prebiotics! Prebiotics are defined by their positive impact on beneficial microorganisms in the gut, and some are research-proven to improve feed utilization. Research-proven prebiotics designed to enhance digestibility will stimulate the growth of energy-harvesting bacteria, resulting in greater volatile fatty acid (VFA) production in the rumen. Volatile fatty acids serve as the primary energy source for ruminants, and an improvement in VFA production by 16% from feeding a prebiotic is nutritionally the same as feeding a pound of dried distillers grains per head per day.
Unlocking more energy from within affords the heifer additional energy available for growth, improved body condition and an earlier onset of puberty – not to mention elevated energy levels have been shown to improve the production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), which are crucial to the effective onset of ovulation in heifers. Obviously, these are essential for reproductive success, meaning that prebiotics can help improve breedups without any risks of grain-fed, overweight heifers.
One of the key elements that distinguishes a prebiotic from a probiotic is that it is nonliving. The fact that it stays viable at extreme temperatures and varying moisture and pH levels suggests that many delivery mechanisms exist for your heifers. Prebiotics can be fed via total mixed rations (TMR) in confined heifer development systems but are more commonly incorporated into mineral supplements. Vitamin and mineral supplementation strategies are well-established promotors of beef production efficiency. When highly available mineral and vitamin products serve as the carrier for a powerful prebiotic, an effective one-two nutritional punch can be provided to your replacements.
The feeder calf market is holding back any herd expansion because it incentivizes producers to cash in on their heifer calves while the market is hot. However, if you’re keeping fewer replacements this year, you’re likely keeping the absolute elite of your calf crop. While this will certainly improve the genetic merit of a smaller domestic cow herd, it’s still up to us to maximize the genetic potential of our programs by developing our heifers in the best possible way. Great genetics require premium nutrition, and now is the most critical time to effectively set up our yearling females for a lifetime of success in the herd.
Offering a prebiotic through a supplementation program is the best way to ensure your yearling heifers are successful contributors to the herd. Prebiotics are powerful tools that can proactively benefit health from within as well as improve feed utilization and energetic status in the animal. Collectively, this technology serves as a vital tool for maximizing heifer breedups in the first year and effective longevity thereon.
