The Impact of Management Decisions and their Effect on Reproductive Performance of Beef Cattle

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate two management decisions made by beef cattle producers and their impacts on reproduction. In experiment 1, growth, attainment of puberty, and pregnancy rates were evaluated in crossbred heifers originating from two different breeding systems: 1) cows only exposed to natural service herd bulls (NS), or 2) cows exposed to ovulation synchronization and fixed-time AI followed by natural-service bulls (TAI, fixed-time artificial insemination). Artificial insemination did not influence growth rate during the development phase, attainment of puberty, or pregnancy rates in heifer progeny. In experiment 2, pregnancy attainment and calving distribution of beef females administered a control saline dose, killed virus, or modified-live pre-breeding vaccine per label recommendations were compared. No differences in pregnancy attainment were observed among the 3 time points measured, d 28, 56, and 90 as well as no differences seen among the calving distribution.