The influence of heifer post-weaning residual feed intake on subsequent production, reproduction, grazing behavior, supplement intake behavior, dry matter intake and milk production of Black Angus beef cattle

Abstract

Residual feed intake (RFI) is a recognized measure of biological efficiency in beef cattle. However, RFI determination is expensive, time consuming and not well studied in beef cattle fed forage-based diets, nor how post-weaning RFI influences grazing behavior, supplement intake behavior or dry matter intake at different ages and physiological stages of production. Thus, the objectives of this research were to investigate how post-weaning RFI influences reproductive and productive performance, grazing behavior, supplement intake behavior as well as dry matter intake at different ages and physiological stages of production. A commercial herd of black Angus cows were utilized to conduct three experimental studies. Results indicate that classification of RFI for replacement heifers had little to no effect on subsequent beef cattle production and reproductive efficiency through the weaning of the 3rd calf. Subtle differences were denoted for cow Julian birth dates based on RFI classification and conception of 1st calf-heifers categorized as low RFI. However, heifer post-weaning RFI had little effect on subsequent cow performance (BW or BCS), grazing behavior, supplement intake behavior, and resource use. In addition, cow age significantly influenced cow performance, grazing behavior, supplement intake behavior, and resource use. We also observed high individual variability in grazing site selection, suggesting that individual-level factors may be driving grazing resource use and grazing behavior. Heifer post-weaning RFI did not influence mature cow dry matter intake, and this was consistent for both lactating and non-lactating beef cows. In contrast, cow age did correspond to quadratic increases of DMI and intake rates of mature cows. However, when DMI was expressed as g x kg body weight-1 no differences were observed with respect to cow age in lactating and non-lactating cows. Milk production was influenced by heifer post-weaning RFI for 2/3 and 5/6-yr old cows. Therefore, our studies suggests that selection for low RFI females would not impact overall herd productivity of cattle on foraged-based production systems, and that cow age has more of an impact on resource use, supplement intake, and grazing behavior, as well as DMI than heifer post-weaning RFI while grazing dormant-season mixed-grass prairie rangelands.