Productivity and efficiency of cow herds submitted to two weaning ages

Abstract

It was aimed in this work to evaluate the productivity and efficiency of beef cows submitted to weaning of their calves at 76 days (early weaning) or at 148 days (weaning at conventional age) after calving during three consecutive years. It was evaluated pregnancy rate, birth and weaning, gain weight of the calves and cows at conventional weaning, weight at conventional weaning of calves and cows, production of weaned calves per cow and calf production index. Pregnancy rate in the herd submitted to early weaning (86.34%) was higher than in the conventional weaning (55.5%). Early weaning cows showed higher birth and weaning rates when compared to conventional weaning (83.6 and 83.6% vs. 47.5 and 44.5%, respectively) besides a higher production of calves (183 vs. 114). Early weaning cows produced 60.5% more calves than the conventional weaning cows. Conventional weaning calves gained more weight from birth to weaning (97.9 vs. 83.4 kg, respectively). Early weaning cows had more weight gain from calving to weaning (42.5 vs. 18.7 kg, respectively), and regarded to calf production index, they were more efficient (efficiency of the herds). At the average of the three years, the early weaning of the calves allows higher calving rates and weaning to the cows, in addition to a higher index of calf kilogram index produced in relation to weaning at conventional age.